ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) approved on Tuesday a reduction of 30 paisa per unit in tariff for all distribution companies of Wapda under monthly fuel adjustment.

A public hearing of Nepra decided to pass on the relief to consumers in the billing month of September. It noted with concern that improved power supplies had resulted in abnormally higher transmission losses.

Nepra was informed that overall transmission losses of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) was about one per cent higher than that of June mainly because of transfer of more electricity from north to south.

It was stated that the NTDC had to transfer about one billion more electricity units from north to south, resulting in higher system losses. The regulator expressed concern over higher transmission losses and directed the NTDC to submit a comparative statement to justify its claims.

The NTDC had sought about 29 paisa per unit reduction in fuel charges from its reference tariff of Rs7.06 per unit in view of better contribution by hydropower plants because of improved water availability and irrigation requirements of the provinces. The hydropower generation contributed more than 40pc of the total energy mix during July as compared with 32.5pc in May and 41pc in June. As a result, dependence on furnace oil-based thermal power generation remained limited to about 33pc in July as compared to 35pc in May 2013 and 30pc in June.

Nepra was informed that the cost of hydropower generation stood at about 8 paisa per unit, coal-based at Rs3.6, diesel-based at Rs20.45, furnace oil-based at Rs15.88, gas-based at Rs5 and nuclear power at Rs1.33 per unit.