Discos allowed to extract Rs16bn

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday concluded that ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) would charge an additional Rs1.61 per unit and K-Electric to refund Rs0.05 to their respective consumers for electricity consumed in April, under monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) mechanism. The decisions were made upon completion of two separate public hearings. Discos would thus extract an additional amount of Rs15.63 billion and KE would refund about Rs72 million to their consumers in June’s bills. The regulator also took up KE’s demand for a Rs5.2 per unit increase in tariff, involving a financial impact of Rs30bn, for the quarter ending March 31 under quarterly adjustment but reserved its judgement. The public hearings were presided over by Nepra chairman Tauseef H. Farooqui and attended by three out of four provincial members — Maqsood Anwar, Muthar Rana and Amina Ahmed — from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab. The case officers of Nepra told the hearing that Discos had proposed an additional FCA of Rs2.01 per unit to generate about Rs19.5bn more. The regulator, however, calculated a positive FCA of Rs1.61 per unit with a revenue impact of about Rs15.63bn. The KE had sought 49 paise per unit increase in FCA to extract Rs740m from consumers but the regulator worked out a negative FCA of Rs0.048 per unit or Rs72m.