XWDiscos seek Nepra nod to meet revenue requirement of Rs2.76 trillion for next fiscal year

ISLAMABAD  -  Preparing for revision in base electric­ity tariff, ex-WAPDA distribution com­panies (XWDiscos) have sought the National Electric Power Regulatory Au­thority (NEPRA) nod to meet revenue requirement of Rs2.763 trillion for the next fiscal year 2024-25. Earlier, six Dis­cos submitted their petitions for their revenue requirements seeking total Rs 967 billion on account of annual ad­justment or indexation of distribution/supply margin for the next fiscal year 2024-25, and now the remaining four have filed their request with NEPRA for the revenue requirements of Rs 1.796 trillion. Apart from this, the request includes Prior Year Adjustments (PYA) for the fiscal year 2022-23, alongside remaining amounts from previous years and other associated costs.

The four Discos, that have filed the petitions, include Lahore Electric Sup­ply Company (LESCO) which sought a revenue requirement of Rs852.05 bil­lion, Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) with Rs501.48 billion, Islam­abad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) with Rs400.48 billion, and Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) also asked for Rs41.88 billion for FY 2024-25. They submitted their respective requests to NEPRA under the Multi-Year Tariff (MYT) regime for the upcoming fiscal. The NEPRA will hold public hearings on these petitions on April 2 and 3, 2024. 

As per the LESCO petition, of the total claims of over 852 billion, the company sought Rs470.16 billion on account of the capacity charges, Rs259.578 billion as energy charges, Rs75.06 billion opera­tion and maintenance (O&M) costs, and Rs35.2 billion as ‘Use of system charge (UoSC)’ and market operator fee (MOF), for salaries, wages and benefits Rs33.1 billion, and Rs8.9 billion for new hiring. Besides, it also claimed Rs6.647 billion as depreciation cost and another Rs4.3 bil­lion as prior year adjustments. FESCO’s total revenue requirements for FY25 in­clude Rs225.3 billion as capacity charges, energy cost of Rs179 billion, O&M charges of Rs42.1 billion, UoSC/MoF Rs22.6 bil­lion, salaries, wages, and other benefits of Rs22.15 billion, PYA of Rs18.08 bil­lion, and depreciation was accounted for Rs7.82 billion. The IESCO’s total revenue requirements include Rs177.2 billion as capacity charges, Rs136.44 billion in energy purchase prices, Rs29.1 billion as O&M, and Rs27.6 billion as PYA. Be­sides, it claimed Rs18.2 billion for pay and allowances, Rs12 billion as UoSC/MoF and Rs6.557 billion as deprecia­tion cost. Similarly, the claims of HESCO include Rs8.9 billion as pay and allow­ances, Rs4.3 billion post-retirement benefits, Rs9.7 billion prior year adjust­ments and Rs2.35 billion as O&M costs. 

It is worth noting that six other Discos have earlier submitted their petitions which have collectively sought Rs967 bil­lion for the fiscal year 2024-25. Of these six Discos, the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) has sought a total rev­enue requirement of Rs376.2 billion, in­cluding allocations of Rs15.5 billion for salaries, Rs13.1 billion for post-retirement benefits, Rs47.8 billion for gross margins, Rs43 billion for net margins and Rs19.1 billion for prior-year adjustments. Simi­larly, the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) requested a revenue require­ment of Rs160.8 billion, with allocations of Rs21 billion for pay and allowances, Rs24.2billion for post-retirement bene­fits, Rs78.3 billion for gross margins and Rs72.28 billion for net margins for the fiscal year 2024-25. Besides, it claimed prior year adjustments of Rs88.54 billion and depreciation of Rs7 billion.

The Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) sought Rs236 billion in revenue requirements, including allocations for pay and allowances, post-retirement benefits, gross margins, net margins, and prior-year adjustments. The Tribal Elec­tric Supply Company (Tesco) aimed for a regulator-approved revenue require­ment of Rs92 billion, encompassing pay and allowances, post-retirement ben­efits, gross margins, net margins, wheel­ing charges, and prior-year adjustments. 

The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) requested Rs67.2 billion in rev­enue requirements, covering pay and al­lowances, post-retirement benefits, gross margins, net margins, and prior-year adjustments. The Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) sought a revenue re­quirement of Rs35.7 billion, including costs for operation and maintenance, de­preciation, gross margins, net margins, and prior-year adjustments. Nepra will conduct public hearing on April 2 and April 3 on the petitions of the four Discos.