ISLAMABAD - National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Saturday approved the hike of Rs3.10 per unit in electricity tariff on account of fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for December 2021, which would further increase the inflation rate in the country.
According to a notification, all consumer categories of distribution companies, except for lifeline customers and K-Electric consumers, would pay the 3.1 per unit hike under the FCA in the bills for February 2022. The Rs3.09 increase will put an extra burden of billions of rupees on the inflation-hit consumers.
In a petition submitted to NEPRA, on the behalf of power distribution companies (XWDISOCs), the CPPA-G had said that for the month of December the reference fuel charges from the consumers were Rs 5.53/unit while the actual fuel cost was Rs 8.65/unit. Therefore it should be allowed to pass the increase of Rs 3.126/unit to the consumers. The NEPRA is continuously approving the electricity tariffs under FCA. Following a massive increase of Rs 4.75/unit and Rs 4.30/unit from NEPRA, on account of monthly FCAs, respectively for October and November, the regulator has once again allowed Discos to increase the tariff by Rs 3.10/unit for December FCA as well.
Increase in electricity price will put extra burden of billions of rupees on inflation-hit consumers
Apart from FCAs, the Cabinet Committee on (CCOE) on Thursday approved to the revised Circular Debt Management Plan (CDMP) with the target of increasing the base tariff by Rs2.80/unit by July 2022, having an impact of Rs292 billion on the consumers. Under the CDMP, the government aims to reduce power sector debt by Rs950 billion to Rs1526 billion by the end of FY2023. The power sector circular debt has increased by Rs196 billion during first six months (Jul-December) of the fiscal year 2021-22 as compared to the same period of previous year and has ballooned to record high of Rs2476 billion.
OGRA REDUCE RLNG PRICE
On the other hand, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Wednesday decreased the prices of re-liquefied natural gas (RLNG) for the consumers of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) for the month of February. A notification issued by OGRA said that it has decreased the price of RLNG by $0.1886 per MMBTU for the consumers of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SNGPL) and $0.202 per MMBTU for Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC).
The regulator decreased the provisional price of RLNG and reduced the rates for the consumers of SNGPL to $13.3769 per MMBTU for February from the earlier $13.5655 per MMBTU in January. Meanwhile, for the consumers of SSGC, it has been decreased to $14.0783 per MMBTU for February from $14.2803 MMBTU in November. As per the OGRA notification, a total of 8 cargoes are due in February, 2022, with six cargoes coming under two long term PSO contracts with Qatar and two are coming under PLL long term contracts.
