THE National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has done well by ordering an investigation into the operations of Power Distribution Companies (Discos) following their consistent demands for non-substantiated multi-billion rupee claims, citing concerns of casual handling of affairs and burdening consumers. The regulator announced this investigation under the Nepra Act, into the affairs of Discos, with plans to summon each CEO post-Eid to address technical losses, sales, and other issues.
The initiative comes in the backdrop of the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA)’s petition for Fuel Price Adjustments (FCA) for January 2024 where it claimed Rs7.13/unit additional charges from power consumers with a total impact of Rs.56.6 billion. Nepra Chairman Waseem Mukhtar must be appreciated for smelling a rat over this unusual demand and that too at a time when fuel prices and exchange rate remained stable, providing no justification for any increase. In fact, there are reasons to believe that FCA and Quarterly Adjustments are tools to fleece poor consumers for the sake of inefficiencies of and corruption in the relevant discos. In fact, the Power Division has miserably failed to discharge its duties and responsibilities vis-à-vis protection of rights of the consumers and instead it is providing a cover to the poor performance of the discos and their inability to upgrade the system. In this case, the regulator questioned rationale for the heft increase demanded by the CPPA but the petitioner was unable to give a satisfactory response except that there were issues of system stability. Whether it was system constraints or system stability, it is the responsibility of the Power Division and the Discos to plan and implement projects to improve the system instead of burdening consumers every now and then to cover up their bad performance. The electricity tariff has already gone beyond the absorbing capacity of the consumers and the tendency of revising it upward frequently is nothing but sheer exploitation. The Discos are complaining about low demand of electricity, which is a natural phenomenon as the tariff has become unsustainable for most of the consumers. Those who have the resources are seeking shelter under solarization but what about those who can neither afford the tariff nor installation of a solar system.
