Daily Times

KARACHI: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Monday approved a Rs 12.207 per unit cut in power tariff for K-Electric Limited (KEL) consumers under fuel price adjustment.

This cut in tariff for the month of March 2016 would be adjusted in the billing month of June 2016. Earlier, the KEL had proposed a reduction of Rs 3.863 per unit in the power tariff, stating that its own generation per unit weighted average fuel cost in March 2016 declined to Rs 5.462/kWh from Rs 6.877/kWh in the reference month of December 2015 due to reduction in weighted average price of furnace oil. However, per unit fuel cost of Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G) surged to Rs 5.542 in March 2016 from Rs4.268/kWh in the reference month of December 2015.

The NEPRA calculated the fuel cost variation of KEL’s own power generation and power purchases from external sources for the month of March 2016 works to be around minus Rs163.078 million or minus Rs0.1220/kWh.

Moreover, NEPRA Chairman Brig (Retd) Tariq Saddozai said that KEL officials had to come out of air-conditioned rooms, enhance public communication and resolve people’s issues. “Had K-Electric shared good relations with the public, somebody would have raised a voice in its favour during last year’s heatstroke tragedy,” he said.

Chairing a public hearing at a hotel here, Saddozai said the KEL was purchasing expensive power and the NEPRA had serious concerns about this approach of the company. He advised the company to clarify that why it was purchasing expensive electricity from private generation companies.

During the hearing, a number of consumers recorded their protest against KEL’s injustice. K-Electric ex-employee Anil Mumtaz gave a detailed presentation and exposed company’s anomalies. In response to Mumtaz’s allegations, Saddozai asked the KEL officials to sit with Mumtaz and address his concerns. He admitted that half of Mumtaz’s complaints against the KEL were genuine.

Consumers requested the NEPRA chairman to direct the KEL to install industrial and commercial Power Multiplier Transformers (PMTs) separately. They complained that KEL was collecting metre rent and bank fees illegally and it should stop this practice.

“KEL’s complaint centre 118 is not working properly. The KEL is imposing heavy penalties on consumers despite the fact that it has no proof of electricity theft,” said a consumer.

Another consumer asked the NEPRA chairman to play his role to make it an effective regulator because KEL was taking every decision on NEPRA’s behalf in courts. He said that no lawyer from the regulator pursued the cases in courts and this made the NEPRA a powerless authority.