Amid the National Assembly session on the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021 and the prevailing LNG shortage, the electricity consumers have again been burdened with fuel cost adjustment for the month of November, as National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has notified a per-unit increase of Rs. 4.30 for the January 2022 bills.

NEPRA has issued a notification, accepting the CPPA [Central Power Purchasing Agency] application for the month of November 2021, and allowed a raise of Rs 4.30 in the per-unit cost of electricity. This raise will be added to the consumers power bills for January and it is in line with the November monthly fuel adjustment.

In a dissenting note on the decision, Member Sindh NEPRA Rafique Ahmed Sheikh said the shortage of LNG had put an additional burden on the people. He said the burden should be laid on CPPA, and not everything should be added and accepted as demanded by CPPA.

According to the NEPRA notification, the price increase in January bills will not be applicable to electric and lifeline customers.

On 29 December 2021, NEPRA held a hearing into the CPPA petition seeking the increase in the per-unit cost of electricity. The reference fuel price for the month of November is Rs 3.74 per unit. If the application is approved, consumers will face an additional burden of more than Rs. 40 billion.

According to the CCPA request, 8.24 billion units of electricity were generated in November. The production cost of electricity came to Rs. 66.52 billion.

In November, 33.21 percent of electricity was generated from water and 16.26 percent from coal. Furnace oil generated 1.71 percent while domestic gas generated 12.89 percent. 14.25 percent of electricity was generated from imported LNG, while 17.51 percent of electricity was generated from nuclear fuel.

Source: Pro Pakistani