The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) overnight approved a massive Rs. 7.05 increase in fuel cost adjustment (FCA), to be collected in March 2024 bills, after immense pressure from the caretaker government.
This adjustment will apply to consumers of ex-WAPDA distribution companies (DISCOs) for electricity consumed in the first month of 2024.
This hike in electricity prices imposes an additional burden of Rs. 55 billion on consumers.
NEPRA’s decision comes after DISCOs last week demanded an FCA adjustment of Rs. 7.13 per unit. The regulator had then declared that no decision would be made until a probe was completed.
Pulling no punches on the matter, the caretaker government pressured NEPRA to go ahead with the surcharge without any investigation or risk performance benchmarks committed to the International Monetary Fund. NEPRA yielded and postponed the probe until after Ramazan but notified the FCA revision in the late hours of Monday.
The adjustment of Rs. 7.05/kWh shall apply to all the consumer categories except Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and Lifeline consumers. The said adjustment shall be shown separately in the consumers’ bills based on units billed to the consumers in January 2024. XWDISCOS shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of January 2024 in the billing month of March 2024.
The Rs. 7.05 per unit adjustment is the highest FCA rate ever charged, roughly 96 percent higher than the pre-fixed fuel cost already charged in January bills.
This adds to the existing extortionate power bills, including a roughly 26 percent increase in the annual base tariff and high quarterly tariff adjustments.
