In a major development, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has notified Wheeling of Electric Power Regulation 2016, thus allowing a generation company to sell its electricity to bulk power consumers at any location within the country.
A spokesperson for NEPRA said under the new regulations, the consumers will be required to pay the cost of transporting of electricity (wheeling) for using NTDC/DISCO system, in addition to the cost of generation, to be mutually agreed between the generator and the consumers.
One of the key features of the new regulations is the facilitation of dedicated transmission and distribution infrastructure. Under this concept where technical limitations do not allow a generation company to use DISCOs and Transmission Company’s network, it may construct a dedicated transmission or distribution system at its own expense to supply electric power to its authorised consumer.
The new regulations will help open the market to small and medium sized generation companies which will encourage them to sell electricity directly to their potential buyers.
DISCOs at the same time will be required to maintain and improve their service quality to retain their customers while they will also financially benefit from receiving wheeling charges paid by the generation companies.
With the involvement of private sector companies at transmission and distribution levels, it is expected that the load demand on the system will be reduced considerably, enabling DISCOs to reduce load shedding, the spokesperson said.