The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) has sought an increase of Rs. 4.33 per unit in power tariff on account of monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for November 2021.

Following a massive increase of Rs. 4.75 per unit from NEPRA, on account of monthly FCA for October, the CPPA has submitted another petition seeking another huge hike for November as well.

In a petition submitted to NEPRA, on the behalf of power distribution companies (XWDISOCs), the CPPA said that for November, the reference fuel charges were Rs. 3.73 per unit, while the actual fuel cost was Rs. 8.07 per unit. Therefore, it should be allowed to pass the increase of Rs. 4.33 per unit to the consumers. Due to a decrease in hydel, wind, bagasse, and solar generation, expensive fuel such as HSD, Furnace Oil, and expensive LNG, was used during October, which had raised the generation cost to almost Rs. 10 per unit.

In September, the cost of electricity generation was Rs. 7.68 per unit as was submitted in the petition by CPPA.

In November, the electricity consumption was reduced to 29 percent, and only 8,481 GWh of units were produced against October’s 11,296 GWh.

The CPPA further said the total cost of energy generated in November was Rs. 66.52 billion.

The hydel power generation was recorded at 2,816.49 GWh against the generation of 2,627.25 GWh in October. The share of hydel generation was 33.21 percent, the share of coal in power generation decreased from 1,885.78 GWh in October to 1,379.12 GWh in November. However, the cost of coal generation increased from Rs. 11.36 per unit in October to Rs. 13.14 per unit in November.

The share of coal-based power generation was 16.26 percent at the rate of Rs. 13.14 per unit, while only 1.71 percent electricity at the cost of Rs. 20.27 per unit was produced.

12.8 percent electricity was generated from local gas at Rs. 7.86 per unit while 14.25 percent of electricity was generated from imported LNG at a cost of Rs. 17.28 power unit.

Nuclear fuel generated 17.51 percent of electricity in November at the rate of Rs. 1.02 per unit.

As per the CPPA petition, a total of 8 billion and 240 million units of electricity were generated in November.

In case of approval, consumers will be burdened with more than Rs. 40 billion for the electricity they consumed in the month of November.

NEPRA will hold the public hearing on the CPPA’s petition on December 29, 2021.

Source: Pro Pakistani