Nepra directs Re0.48 Refund per unit on November electricity bills

ISLAMABAD: The National Electricity Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has ordered all state-owned distribution companies and K-Electric to refund consumers Re0.4812 per unit for November electricity bills, The Nea was mentioned.

The notice was issued after it was found that consumers were overcharged in September under the monthly fuel charge adjustment (FCA).

The refund applies to all categories except lifeline, sheltered, EV charging and prepaid consumers, with Nepra saying the overcharging was due to differences between actual and billed fuel costs.

The adjustment will be implemented nationwide under a federal cabinet decision ratified on August 29, which unified FCAs for all utilities, including K-Electric. Any shortfall will be covered through subsidies or cross-subsidies.

However, Nepra member (technical) Rafique Ahmad Shaikh issued a strongly worded dissenting note attached to the decision, accusing the authority of allowing inefficiencies to be passed on to consumers and undermining accountability in the power sector.

He warned that the inefficient operation of the 747MW Guddu plant, part-load charges of Rs2.5 billion and system losses of Rs302 million, along with an underutilized HVDC line operating at 41%, continue to inflate consumer tariffs.

He criticized the commissioning of the Kapco plant in violation of the Economic Value Ordinance, adding Rs 9 million to the cost of consumers, and said idle plants like Neelum Jhelum continue to cause heavy economic losses that should never be passed on to consumers.

In a separate dissent, he condemned NTDC’s shifting of inefficiency costs to consumers as “regulatory leniency”, noting that transmission defects have cost about Rs 126 billion since 2019 despite consumer-funded investments of Rs 570 billion.