BHUBANESWAR: After taking over the management of Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) here on Monday, Tata Power said the company has no plan to ask for a revision of tariff which has remained unchanged from 2018-19.
The largest integrated power utility of the country, Tata Power signed shareholder’s agreement with the State-owned Gridco after purchasing a majority stake of 51 pc with management control. Gridco will have the remaining 49 pc equity stake in the company.
Since the retail supply tariff (RST) for the current fiscal has been pronounced by Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), the company may think for a revision during the filing of annual revenue requirement for 2021-22 fiscal, Tata Power CEO and MD Praveer Sinha said.
The State power regulator has not changed the tariff (both RST and BST) for the third consecutive year. The new tariff has been made effective from May 1, 2020 due to Covid lockdown.
Interacting with mediapersons through video conference, Sinha said priority of the company - renamed as Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL) - is to improve reliability, reduce AT&C losses and offer excellent customer service. It is committed to improve and modernise the distribution system in the five electrical circles under its area of operation.
As per the agreement TPCODL will invest Rs 1,540 crore in the next five years to build a resilient structure and deploy new technology available in the international market to bring down the loss level and ensure quality power to consumers at an affordable price.
Noting that Tata Power has been able reduce AT&C losses from 53.1 pc (July 2002) to less than 8 pc (March 2019) in Delhi, Sinha said "We will work hard to bring down the loss level of discom from the current 35 pc to 23.7 pc as benchmarked by OERC."
The company has a clear cut plan how to bring down the high loss to a sustainable level within a specified time frame, he added. "It will be our endeavour to transfer the benefits accrued from the loss reduction to the consumers," he said.
Admitting that about 6 lakh out of 27 lakh consumers of CESU either do not have meters or have faulty meters, Tata Power president (T&D) Sanjay Banga said metering all consumers and supply of timely and correct bills will be the other priority area of the company.
Responding to a query on realisation of huge arrear dues, Banga said “We will approach the consumers and request them to clear the past dues with some incentives We hope the consumers will cooperate if their concerns are duly addressed.”