The government confirmed on record a minor impact of solar net metering on electricity sales, and on Thursday the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) notified Rs3.33 per unit additional fuel cost against consumption in April to enable ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) to collect an additional Rs29 billion in June.
According to an order from the regulator, Nepra “has examined and evaluated a National Average Uniform increase of Rs3.3321/kWh in the relevant tariff for ex-Discos because of variations in the fuel charges for April 2024.”
The impact of the FCA would result in a partial spillover to the quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA), which would happen later, meaning that the net tariff increase would be approximately Rs6 per unit.
The “rs3.3321/kWh adjustment shall apply to all consumer categories, with the exception of lifeline consumers and electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS).” According to Nepra’s statement, the adjustment would appear individually in the June invoices depending on the units used in April.
In making its decision, the regulator also noted that, according to information provided by PITC, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had “included 100 GWh (gigawatt hours) for the net metering units procured during April.” This amounts to a meager 1.15 percent of the 8,640Gwh that are currently in the national grid. The CPPA reported in March that solar net metering contributed 54.7 Gwh, or 0.7 percent of the 7,756 Gwh total grid supply.
This suggested that the story against solar net metering households was being used to hide some other issues with the electricity network’s efficiency. Due to a combination of factors including decreased temperatures, altered consumption habits brought on by the economic downturn, and customers switching to other sources, April’s consumption was over 14% less than it was in the same month previous year.
