ISLAMABAD-NEPRA has once again questioned the use of expensive furnace oil instead of RLNG for electricity generation in December, saying that it will probe to which sector the gas from power sector was diverted.  In a public hearing on the CPPA’s petition presided over by Chairman NEPRA Tauseef H Farouqi, the regulator reserved the judgment on the petition for the increase of Rs 1.81 per unit in power tariff under fuel price adjustment for the month of December 2020.
In the hearing, NEPRA has noted that in December instead of LNG, expensive furnace oil based electricity worth Rs3.6 billion was generated. In case, the same electricity would have been generated by using RLNG Rs 1.5 billion could have been saved, Nepra officials said.
Nepra chairman said that in December the adjustment for fuel price can be in the range of Rs 1.30 to 1.60 per unit instead of Rs 1.81 demanded by the regulator. Tauseef H Farouqui asked that to which sector the RLNG from power sector has been diverted in December?
“We have to look into the matter of the diversion of power sector gas to other sector,” he said, adding, “We are the protector of the electricity consumers therefore we are worried over hike in power tariff but we cannot do anything as the circular debt has reached Rs 2400 billion.” Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had proposed an increase of Rs 1.8085 per unit, under fuel price adjustment, for the month of December 2020 for ex-WAPDA Discos. 
For the month of December, the CPPA in its petition said it had charged consumers a reference fuel tariff of Rs 4.4602 per unit in December while the actual fuel cost turned out to be higher. Hence, it should be allowed to charge Rs 1.8085 per unit additional cost from consumers. 
According to the data provided to NEPRA by CPPA, the energy generation in December 2020 was recorded at 7879.86GWh. The total cost of energy generated amounted to Rs 37.666 billion. The total electricity sold to Discos was 7563.88 GWh for Rs 47.416 billion. The total transmission losses during December were to 4.01 percent. 
As per the data submitted by the CPPA, the share of hydropower generation in December decreased in December to 22.70 percent from 39.98 percent in November. The share of coal-based power plants in the energy mix increased from 14.65 percent in November to 29.15 percent in December. The cost of the coal-based electricity also decreased from Rs 7.1045 per unit in November to Rs 6.3412 per unit in December. The power generated from furnace oil increased from 27.77 GWh or 0.37 percent in November to 293.92 GWh or 3.73 percent. The cost of the electricity generated from RFO also increased from Rs 11.7645 per unit in November to Rs 12.2799 per unit in December. 
The share of gas based electricity also increased from 437.04 GWh or 5.84 percent in November to 1239.59 GWh or 15.37 percent in December. The cost of the gas based electricity decreased from Rs 7.9930 per unit in November to Rs 7.5850 per unit in December.
The share of RLNG based power decreased from 1913.99 GWh or 25.59 percent in November to 10.94.10 GWh or 13.88 percent in December. The cost of the RLNG based electricity was Rs 7.5862 per unit. Nuclear contributed 741.46 Gwh or 9.41 percent electricity to the system in December while in November its share was 663.30 GWh or 8.87pc.
The electricity imported from Iran contributed 0.42 percent or 33.23 Gwh in December against 33.45 GWh or 0.45 percent in November. The cost of the Iranian electricity was Rs9.8088 per unit in October while in November it was Rs 9.7570 per unit. Mixed energy contributed 0.25 per cent or 20.01 Gwh at the cost of Rs 4.9906 per unit in December. In November, mixed energy contributed 0.35 per cent or 26.13 Gwh at the cost of Rs 6.9904 per unit in November.
Solar contributed 0.63 percent and wind 2.79 percent electricity to the national grid in December while in November it had contributed 47.02 GWh or 0.63 percent electricity. Baggasse contributed 1.30 percent or 102.17 Gwh to the system in December while in November it has added 59.99 GWh or 0.80 percent electricity in November.
The CPPA also demanded previous adjustment/supplemental charges of Rs 10.478 billion or Rs 1.3297 per unit in its petition.