Islamabad: Electricity companies alarmed the protestors, already outraged by inflated electricity bills, to get ready for another surge in electricity rates by 1.58 per unit on account of fuel adjustment charges (FCA) for July 2023, our media sources confirmed.

The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) earlier requested on behalf of power distribution companies (DISCOs) an increase of Rs 2.06 per unit, but later that was revised to reduce it to 1.579 per unit.

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Furthermore, on Wednesday, NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) conducted a public hearing for distribution companies (DISCOs) except K-Electric regarding the FCA of July 2023. In the session, the officials only heard from the stakeholders but have yet to take any decision.

The authority will conduct another public hearing after three weeks in which the official will assess the performance of the DISCO.

During the session, the official of NEPRA revealed that the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant had been claiming PKR 27 per unit while NEPRA had set its tariff at PKR 16 per unit. The management of the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant had imported coal at a rate of $400 per ton when the prices were high. However, the officials said that the prices had come down to $100 per ton.

Furthermore, the official suggested operating the plant to generate cheaper electricity by allowing the average cost of coal. Moreover, the power regulator showed regression in generating expensive electricity to burden the consumers while there was an option to generate cheaper electricity.

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The NEPRA further informed the officials that they would issue a detailed decision after inspecting the data.

During the session on Wednesday, the officials raised the question of the falling of 138 towers of NTDC during the last five years. They also raised issues of delay in placing transmission lines that caused failure in evacuating the electricity.

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