Karachi slams attempt to block FCA relief

Express Tribune

29-06-2025

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Karachi-based industrialists and consumers have voiced serious concerns over the Power Division's interference in blocking relief and rescheduling K-Electric's (KE) hearing.
Various stakeholders have approached the national power regulator, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), urging it to reject the Power Division's request to deny Rs7.173 billion (Rs4.69/kWh) in Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) relief for April 2025 to KE consumers.
They have also expressed serious concerns over the rescheduling of KE's hearing.
Prominent Karachi-based energy expert and intervener Arif Balwani has written a letter to the power regulator opposing the Power Division's last-minute request to defer the FCA hearing for K-Electric. The hearing, originally scheduled for June 19, 2025, was rescheduled to June 23, 2025. NEPRA has now fixed June 30, 2025, for the next hearing.
"It must be stated unequivocally that the FCA mechanism is a statutory and formula-based process under the NEPRA Tariff (Standards and Procedure) Rules, 1998. It is not a petition, nor does it entail discretionary regulatory indulgence warranting intervention," Balwani stated, adding that the authority's notice — consistent with past practice and law — rightly invited "interested/affected parties to submit written/oral comments as permissible under the law."
He said that the notice did not — and could not — invite any intervention, which is governed by specific provisions and procedures applicable to tariff petitions or licensing matters under the NEPRA Act and relevant regulations.
"The belated oral objection raised by the Power Division (PD) — during the hearing itself and without prior written notice—is procedurally improper, contrary to principles of natural justice, and has no basis in the NEPRA Act (XL of 1997), the NEPRA Tariff Rules, or any codified regulation," he said, adding that there is no statutory provision empowering the authority to suspend or defer a lawfully convened FCA hearing at the unilateral behest of an executive division lacking any regulatory jurisdiction.
He further added that the PD's contention regarding the reference fuel price of Rs15.9947/kWh — derived from the previous Multi-Year Tariff (MYT) 2016-2023 — has been repeatedly used for interim FCA determinations without objection. The Power Division has acquiesced to the continued application of this reference benchmark for several months post-MYT expiry. It cannot now be permitted to challenge its validity retroactively without citing any contrary provision of law or proposing an alternative interim methodology.
More critically, the Additional Secretary of the Power Division admitted on record that the request for deferral was not backed by any formal decision of the federal government, cabinet, or Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
Balwani said this renders the request ultra vires, lacking both authority and democratic legitimacy. The absence of any Cabinet directive further underscores that this initiative is an unauthorised executive overreach attempting to influence the statutory functions of an independent regulator—contrary to the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.
He said the Power Division's further assertion—that the negative FCA should not be passed on to KE consumers due to International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme constraints—is not only irrelevant in the context of regulatory law but also unsupported by any statutory or contractual obligation.