Nepra plans doubling of licensing fees

ISLAMABAD: Following in the footsteps of power companies, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has decided in principle to increase by at least 100 per cent its annual and one-time registration fee for all its licensees like those dealing in generation, distribution, transmission, trading, operators and suppliers. At the same time, Nepra is also seeking the imposition of an annual fee on a class of upcoming electricity traders based on per megawatt forecasted energy trade as the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contracts Market (CTBCM) becomes functional shortly. The prevailing fee structure was notified on May 31, 2021. The power companies have been increasing electricity rates on multiple grounds every month like fuel cost, quarterly adjustments, base tariff adjustments, equalisation surcharge, financing cost surcharge and so on.