ISLAMABAD - The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Monday approved Rs 2.19 per unit reduction in power tariff for ex-Wapda distribution companies for the month of September under a monthly fuel adjustment formula.

The NEPRA approved the power cut for September at a public hearing held here on a petition filed by Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G). The NEPRA Chairman presided over the hearing. The CPPA-G had requested Rs 0.07 per unit reduction and make adjustments of arrears.

This adjustment/relief adjustment will be available to domestic consumers in the entire Pakistan except for K-Electric and the lifeline consumers.

The reason for not providing relief to the consumers of K-Electric was that it was a privatised company and distributing its own generated electricity to the consumers in Karachi and is not covered under this determination.

The relief will also not be available to the lifeline consumers consuming up to 300 units per month, as they were already being provided subsidised electricity. This compensation will be available to consumers in their October 2017 bills. The cut is expected to provide customers relief worth Rs 24 billion.

The CPPA-G had requested NEPRA to reduce the tariff by Rs 0.07 per unit and make adjustments of arrears.

However, the adjustment of three years outstanding dues in the consumer bills was denied by the regulator.

The NEPRA observed that they could not pass the arrears to the power consumers unless they will have the complete data. The total impact of the dues was about Rs 19 billion, a source said.

The NEPRA has asked the petitioner to provide the complete data in this regard.

The CPPA-G had filed the petition for a tariff cut on behalf of ex-Wapda distribution companies. In its petition, the CPPA-G reported that companies had charged consumers a reference tariff of Rs 6.36 per unit in September against the actual fuel cost of Rs 4.05.

The power purchasing agency had requested to make the previous adjustment of Rs 2.17 per unit which was not allowed by the power regulator.

According to the CPPA-G, about 11489.01 Gigawatts (GWh) hours were generated in September at a cost of Rs 46.63 billion and 11233.60 GWh were delivered to the distribution companies at a cost of Rs 71.45 billion.

The total transmission losses were 247.29 GWh, accounting for 2.15 per cent of the total energy supplied.

The data shared by CPPA-G said that the share of hydropower production in the overall energy mix in September was recorded at 4142.64 GWh, which accounted for 36.06 per cent of all power generated in the country.

Wind and solar plants together contributed about 1.77 per cent energy at no fuel cost.

The power generation from furnace oil-based power plants was 2328.48 GWh or 20.27 per cent at a cost of Rs 9.54 per unit. High-speed diesel contributed 60.25 GWh or 0.52 per cent of electricity at a cost of Rs 14.15 per unit.

Power generated through RLNG stood at 1326.37Gwh or 11.54 per cent at a cost of Rs 8.03 per unit.

Power generated through local gas stood at 1882.79 GWh or 16.39 per cent at a cost of Rs 4.3672 per unit.

The share of coal in power generation stood at 4.80 per cent.

The total generation through coal was 551.18 Gwh during the month of September at a cost of Rs 4.28 per unit. Power generated through nuclear source was 777.55 Gwh or 6.77 per cent at cost of Rs 0.96 per unit.