HYDERABAD: The question vexing the State government for months now -- how to fill the huge revenue gap of Rs 10,928 crore of the two Discoms for the year 2022-23, remained unanswered on Monday, despite Finance Minister T Harish Rao and Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy discussing the issue at length. The Ministers did agree to meet again, at a later date.
Monday’s meeting was held at BRKR Bhavan in the wake of the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) suggesting to the Discoms to increase the power tariff to bridge the gap. The TSERC also wants the Discoms to file the tariff proposals within seven days.
The State government is unwilling to burden the consumers. No wonder then that the deadline fixed by the TSERC ended on December 8 and the Discoms did not file the tariff proposals.The Ministers noted that besides the TSERC, the Discoms were also exerting pressure on the government to to bridge the revenue gap.
The meeting explored the options at hand to bridge the revenue gap, without raising the tariffs, and finally put off the decision to a later date. The Ministers did say at the meeting that the State government invested Rs 33,722 crore and expanded the distribution network to ensure quality power for the consumers.
This led to power connections increasing to 57 lakh. The agriculture connections rose from 19 lakh to 26 lakh after the formation of the State, the installed capacity from 7,778 MW to 16,623 MW.