Discoms seek Rs 2,542.86 crore true-up charges
VIJAYAWADA: The three State power distribution companies (Discoms) have filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) seeking the approval of true-up charges of Rs 2,542.86 crore pertaining to retail supply business for the financial year 2019-20. The APERC has invited views, suggestions or objections on the true-up charges from public and stakeholders and it will hold a public hearing in this regard on May 12. True-up claim is the expenditure incurred by the Discoms over and above the approved annual revenue requirement by the APERC due to variations in the approved and actual costs incurred.
While the APSPDCL and APEPDCL made true-up claims of Rs 1,167.75 crore and Rs 701.28 crore, APCPDCL, in its first true-up filing, claimed Rs 673.83 crore. Though the true-up claims were to be filed along with true-up petition and annual revenue requirement filings for the financial year 2021-22, the Discoms sought the APERC permission to file them later due to delay in completion of audit. “Views/objections/ suggestions on true-up charges may be sent to the secretary, APERC, on or before the public hearing on May 12 at 11 am through web hearing,” the commission said in its notice.
The Discoms claimed trueup charges, which will be passed on to the consumers concerned, if approved by the APERC, owing to changes in the power procurement costs due to changes in fixed and variable costs. It may be recalled that in November 2020, the APERC had approved the true up charges of Rs 3,103 crore for the years 2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 as against the Discoms’ claim for Rs 19,603 crore.
Though the commission arrived at the final true-up charges for all the years to be Rs 4,939 crore, it deducted the additional agriculture subsidy already paid and the renewable energy certificate (REC) income of Rs 1,926 crore and finalised the net true-up as Rs 3,103 crore. While the true-up charges will be passed on to the consumers to balance the power utilities’ finances in the subsequent years, it is still unclear as to how it will be done as the retail supply tariff has not been hiked for most domestic categories this year.
True-up charges
APSPDCL
Rs 1,167.75 cr
APEPDCL
Rs 701.28 cr
APCPDCL
Rs 673.83 cr