Discos Apply for a Rs1.829 per Unit Increase in Electricity Prices

In Pakistan, some electricity distribution companies (XWDiscos) are asking for permission from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to raise the cost of electricity for consumers by Rs1.829 per unit starting in October. They’re doing this because the cost of the fuel used to generate electricity went up in August 2023.

The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), which represents these distribution companies, says that although consumers were initially charged Rs6.6457 per unit for electricity in August, the actual cost of the fuel used to make that electricity was higher, at Rs8.4747 per unit. So, they want to pass on this extra cost of Rs1.829 per unit to consumers.

Nepra has planned a public meeting on September 23 to discuss and decide on this request. If Nepra agrees, it means consumers will have to pay an additional Rs1.829 for every unit of electricity they use. This could add up to a total of over Rs25 billion for all consumers.

In August 2023, Pakistan generated a lot of electricity15,959 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to be exact. The total cost of making all this electricity was about Rs131.91 billion, which averages out to Rs8.2654 per unit. Out of all the electricity produced, 15,472 GWh was sent to the distribution companies (Discos), and some of it was lost during transmission.

One interesting thing to note is that Pakistan produced more electricity in August 2023 compared to the same month the previous year.It happened because the cost of making electricity went down. This decrease in cost was mainly because the prices of things like coal, furnace fuel, and gas used to make electricity went down. In fact, the cost of making electricity from coal fell by more than half!

There’s also good News about cleaner energy Sources like Hydropower, Nuclear, and Solar. They produced more electricity in August 2023 compared to last year.

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So, why do they want to Raise the price of Electricity? Well, even though the cost of making electricity went down overall, the prices of some types of fuel used for generating power went up slightly in August. This made it a bit more Expensive to produce Electricity, and now they want to share that extra cost with consumers.

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This Decision by Nepra will impact your Electricity Bills so it’s Something that’s important for all of us to keep an eye on. It’s also a Reminder of how the Cost of Electricity can Change Based on the Fuels used and other factors.