ISLAMABAD - Though National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has jacked up the tariff of overused state owned power plants by up to 98 paisas per unit yet Member Nepra Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shaukat Ali Kundi, in his note of dissent, has declared the decision as illegal.
Well-placed sources informed The Nation that the Nepra in its decision dated July 02, 2007 in respect of generation tariff for Jamshoro Power Company Ltd. (JPCL), made adjustments in the fuel part of energy charge subsequent to change in gas price with effect from July 01, 2012.
Available documents with this scribe also confirmed the information by disclosing that Nepra decided to give a hike to the tariff of Jamshoro Power Generation Company Limited (JPGCL) on account of fuel price variation for gas on July 01, 2012 of Rs53/mmbtu. Resultantly, the per unit tariff of Jamshoro Units 2-4 has been increased by 64 paisas while tariff of Kotri Units 1-2 by 98 paisas and Kotri Units 3-7 by 54 paisas this time. Further, with this decision of increase in the tariff, Kotri Unit, a gas run unit, has assumed the position of a unit which is producing electric power at a very heavy cost. The cost of producing one unit of electric power by Kotri Unit has reached Rs 11.64 while currently the cost of per unit of electric power of gas-run Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is R s5.
However, Shaukat Ali Kundi, a member of Nepra from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has submitted his not of dissent over the decision of the regulatory authority. In his note, the respectable member said,” According to the terms and conditions of the granted Generation Licence of JPGCL these units have already completed their respective useful life. Moreover, the net efficiency of these units during FY-2010-11 was 14.22 per cent only against designed efficiency of 24 per cent,”adding,” I am of the view that the above units of GTPS Kotri are inefficient and allowing fuel cost component to these units would result in higher per unit cost. Therefore, in my view allowing the proposed adjustment in the energy charge part is not justified on legal as well as on economic grounds”.
Furthermore, in his dissenting note, Shaukat Ali Kundi also said, “I would like to point out that natural gas is precious resource and should be utilized on efficient power plants in the system.
Diverting natural gas to efficient plants will not only generate more units of electricity on lower rates but will also result in lowering tariff. In the light of above, I decline the adjustment in Energy Charge Part of Unit No. 1 & 2 of GTPS Kotri of JPGCL.
It is also worth mentioning here that Nepra had, however, approved a reduction by 10 paisa per unit in the tariff of Northern Power Generation owing to decrease in the price of furnace oil by Rs450/ton. Though no direct impact of increase and decrease would be imposed on the power consumers yet this change in tariff would be passed on to the consumers in upcoming September under the head fuel adjustment mechanism.