VIJAYAWADA: The State power distribution companies (discoms), which filed multiple true-up petitions for the years between 2014 and 2020 and also started recovery for distribution business true-up charges, have for the first time in AP filed true-down petition for the first quarter of 2021-22 financial year.
They have submitted to AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) seeking approval to pass on the true-down charges of Rs 126.15 crore to the consumers, officials said.
The officials added the true-down charges were on the account of the savings made by the discoms in procurement of power. A total of Rs 126.15 crore has been saved in the first quarter of FY2021-22 through cost effective power purchases by implementing best practices including reduction in distribution losses, they claimed.
The APSPDCL saved Rs 0.15 per unit by purchasing power from open market at lower rate and saved Rs 89.23 crore for the purchase of 6,013 MU of energy. Similarly, APCPDCL accrued a saving of Rs 33.25 crore for power purchase of 3,670.14 MU and APEPDCL Rs 3.67 crore. Disclosing the above details on Saturday, energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said the utilities would utilise every opportunity to benefit consumers and strengthen the sector. Any policy, programme or practice being implemented in power sector is aimed at protecting the interests of consumers, he said.
“The programmes of the State government in power sector are being implemented by power utilities in true spirit and have yielded excellent results. Our prime focus is protecting consumers’ interest always.” It may be recalled that APERC, in June this year, approved to pass on Fuel and Power Purchase Cost Adjustment Formula (FPPCA) on quarterly basis instead of annually.
The discoms shall pay the true-down amounts to the consumers by way of adjustments infuture power bills as determined by the commission, the order dated June 30 noted. This is the first time that the discoms requested the commission for passing on the true down charges accrued on the account of lesser expenditure in power procurement.
APERC, in August, approved recovery of true up charges of Rs 3,669 cr for distribution business for 2014-19 from the consumers from August power bills till the end of this fiscal. In November, 2020, the commission had approved true up charges of Rs 3,103 crore for retail supply business in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to 2018-19 as against their claims of Rs 19,603 crore. APTRANCO, in March 2020, filed the petition claiming true up charges of Rs 528.71 crore for transmission business between 2014 and 2019. In April, 2021, the three discoms once again file petitions and claimed retail supply business true up charges of Rs 2,542.8 crore for 2019-20. The APERC is still in the process of holding public hearings on the March, 2020 and April, 2021 petitions.
EXPLAINER
True-up and true-down charges are ways of accounting the expenditure made by the power utilities and the revenue realised. If expenses are more than the revenue requirement, then discoms file true-up to make up for the expenditure incurred. Similarly, if the revenue realised is more than the expenditure, true-down is filed