ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) raised some questions on decreasing of electricity consumptions and two non operational power plants and predicted that the electricity rates may increase in quarterly adjustments.
The NEPRA authority has issued its decision regarding fuel charges adjustments for the month of Sept 2024 on the request of Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA).
The authority has allowed deceasing the price by Rs1.27/unit against the request of Rs70 /unit for the Sept 2024 due to incomplete verification of payments to the baggase power plants by the CPPA. The CPPA requested adjustment of Rs.8.24 billion paid to six power plants of baggase on Oct 2024.
The Authority got details of actual payments made by CPPA-G to different bagasse-based power plants. Consequently, the NEPRA decided to allow the amount of Rs.2.14 billion in the instant FCA and the remaining amount would be considered once it has been verified.
The Member Technical Rafique Shaikh wrote additional note and raised some questions on the issues faced by the power sector. He wrote, “Open cycle operation of the Guddu 747 MW power plant in September 2024 incurred a loss of Rs. 0.52 billion, as open cycle generation costs 1.5 times more than Combined Cycle mode.
The cumulative loss for FV 2024-25 from this operation is around Rs. 2.3 billion. Reduced generation at the Guddu 747 MW power plant in September 2024 led to increased reliance on costlier plants, resulting in a loss of about Rs. 6.4 billion.
The total accumulated loss for FY 2024-25 due to higher-cost generation is more than Rs. 18 billion. The absence of generation at the 969 MW Neelum ihelum (NJ) power plant in September 2024 resulted in increased reliance on costlier plants, causing a loss of around Rs. 4.9 billion, based on historical generation and marginal costs.
The total accumulated loss for FY 2024-25 due to higher-cost generation is Rs. 17.2 billion (approx.).” He pointed out that the non-production of energy from the 747 MW Guddu and 969 MW NJ power plants is also placing a significant foreign exchange burden on the national exchequer.
Shaikh further said that the average utilization for September 2024 was only around 40 percent against a dependable capacity of 22,541 MW from thermal “Take or Pay’ power plants.
The electricity consumption was reduced by 1,372 GWh as compared to the reference value in Sept 2024. He cautioned that this decline may lead to an increase in the quarterly adjustment for electricity consumers, he further said.
The average utilization factor of the HVDC during September 2024 was only 46 percent while consumers are still paying for a 100% capacity factor, he pointed out. For Sept 2024, the Part Load Adjustment Charges (PLAC) amounted to Rs. 3.864 billion which now reached over to Rs.14 billion during the current fiscal year.
The amount for previous adjustments stood at Rs. 9.7 billion during the month. The cost of system constraints were reached to a total of Rs.7.778 billion for the first quarter of FY 2024-25. The Member said that the concerns entities should address the above mentioned issues as soon as possible.