K-Electric customers to face higher electricity bills from November

KARACHI: Karachi’s power utility, K-Electric, announced an increase in electricity tariffs for its consumers, effective November.

The power supplier stated it will implement an adjustment of Rs2.17 per kilowatt-hour, adding to the existing rate of Rs3.17 per kilowatt-hour. This will  result in a total charge of Rs4.91 per kilowatt-hour.

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K-Electric will also apple a quarterly adjustment of Rs1.74 per kilowatt-hour to electricity bills, which will be billed separately.

The adjustment is part of the quarterly tariff mechanism designed to reflect fluctuations in fuel prices.

The latest increase follows a previous hike of Rs2.59 per kilowatt-hour announced for October, which has already placed a huge financial pressure on consumers.

K-Electric is also awaiting approval for an additional increase of Rs0.51 per kilowatt-hour for August.

In October, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) ruled on K-Electric’s petition for provisional monthly fuel charge adjustments (FCA) for July 2024.

This set the adjustment at Rs3.03 per kilowatt-hour. The charge will now be reflected in customer bills in December 2024.

Fuel charge adjustment are deemed necessary for utilities due to global changes in fuel prices used for electricity generation and shifts in the generation mix.

The costs are then passed on to the consumers following NEPRA’s review and approval. Customer might also see reductions in their FCA when global fuel prices decrease.

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It is NEPRA’s job to determine the rates applied to customer bills, which are then communicated by the federal government.

The FCA will apply to all consumer categories, with the exception of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS), lifeline consumers and prepaid metering users.