ISLAMABAD: Federal Energy Minister Awais Leghari has declared that electricity prices for April 2024’s power bills have decreased compared to the previous month.
“The price per unit of electricity has dropped by Rs3.83 in April. This reduction is attributed to quarterly and fuel price adjustments in dollar terms,” stated the minister on Thursday.
He noted that the fuel price adjustment for April has decreased to Rs4.92 from Rs7.6, while the quarterly adjustment has reduced to Rs2.75 from Rs4.43.
“Electricity bills have seen a decline of Rs1.68,” Leghari added, emphasizing that the per unit price of electricity will be lower compared to last month.
Leghari explained that the fuel price adjustment calculates the cost of generating power in a month and elaborated, “The electricity price is reduced for consumers when the fuel price becomes lower than the price set by Nepra.”
He mentioned that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed to provide maximum relief to the nation.
The minister outlined that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) would set a “reference tariff” for 12 months at the start of each year and determine fuel price adjustments monthly.
Leghari warned that if additional amounts are not charged from consumers in case of increased fuel expenditures for electricity generation, the national exchequer would suffer losses.
Recently, Nepra allowed ex-Wapda power distribution companies (XWDISCOs) to collect an additional Rs4.921 per unit from consumers in their April 2024 bills, according to Private Media.
In February, consumers paid less than the cost of power generation, particularly from costly imported fuel. Nepra held a public hearing on March 28 on a petition of the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) on behalf of XWDISCOs, requesting Rs4.99/unit positive fuel charges adjustments (FCA) for February 2024.
Nepra’s decision, released on Monday, indicated that the increase in power prices would apply to all consumer categories except for electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) and lifeline consumers of all DISCOs. The adjustment would be shown separately in bills based on units billed in February.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
