NEPRA reserves ruling as DISCOs file application for Rs17.2 billion recovery of arrears
If approved, the amount will put additional burden on electricity consumers.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Wednesday reserved its ruling after hearing an application filed on behalf of the power distributing companies (DISCOs) for quarterly recovery of loses and arrears amounting to Rs17.2 billion in the balance sheet from July to September, 2019.
If approved in the form of power arrears, the amount will put additional burden on electricity consumers.
By the breakdown in numbers, the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) has sought a recovery of Rs1.44 billion, the Gujranwala Electric Supply Company (GEPCO) has filed a request for recovering Rs1.53 billion, and the Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) has sought recovering Rs2.21 billion.
The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) tops the list with an application of recovering Rs5 billion from the consumers, while the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) has sought a recovery of 0.94 billion only.
The Peshawar Electric Power Company (PESCO) has sought Rs3.66 billion, the Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) has sought a request for Rs1.19 billion, the K-Electric (KE) has filed for the recovery of Rs1.52 billion, whereas the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) has sought recovering Rs2.50 billion.
NEPRA issues performance report
Earlier, the NEPRA issued performance reports of production and distribution companies.
The regulator, in its report, said that all four power generation companies (GENCOs) remained closed more than their stipulated time thus inflicting Rs64.62 billion loses as 9.37 billion units of electricity could not be produced.
The report said GENCO1, GENCO2 and GENCO3 inflicted Rs190 million, Rs48 billion, and Rs15 billion loses, respectively. The production companies remained on standby mode to an alarming level.
The production companies could not meet up their capacity in 2016-2018 and inflicted Rs4 billion loses to the economy.
It further noted that the NTDC and K-Electric’s line losses in 2017-18 increased by 525% due to not improving the system.
Last year, 74.9 million units could not reach user end and that loss increased to 460 million units this year. The report said NTDC’s loses increased to Rs480 million from Rs410 million.
