Power tariff hike: Nepra hears petition to fix April FCA at Rs3.48
Business
CPPA says furnace oil and diesel not used for power generation during the month
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday conducted a hearing for fixing the fuel cost adjustment at Rs3.48 per unit for the month of April, which would be applicable to the June bills for consumers.
It is the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) which submitted the request under a monthly practice to determine the electricity tariffs while keeping in mind the fuel use for power generation during the stated period.
However, the Nepra will announce its final decision in the coming days after evaluating the data and arguments presented by different parties.
Previously, the Nepra had determined that the FCA for the month of March would be Rs2.83, meaning that the electricity price is going to increase by 65 paisa per unit.
In case the regulator accepts the request, the government would collect a total amount of around Rs34 billion for power consumers.
According to the CAA, neither diesel nor furnace oil – the two most expensive fuels – were used for power generation in April.
However, the share of hydropower stood at 22.96 per cent while the locally-extracted coal was responsible for 10.19pc of the total electricity generation.
The share of other sources is given as: local natural gas 11.28pc, nuclear 23.64pc and imported LNG (liquefied natural gas) 24.97pc.
Read more: Pakistan LNG imports in May stand at over 0.7m tonnes: Report
Earlier. it was reported that Pakistan imported 730,000 tonnes of LNG in May, and that the monthly volume was similar to that observed in January.
It is in winter when Pakistan goes for most of its LNG imports to meet the higher gas demand. However these figures show a change in trend, attributed to lower spot prices.
The move means that the government may be aiming at increasing the share of LNG for power generation in the coming months as the share of hydropower also goes up during the monsoon season.
