VIJAYAWADA: In a relief to electricity consumers under the purview of the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APCPDCL), true-up charges paid by them will be adjusted in CC bills to be issued in December.
The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has directed Discoms to adjust the true-up charges collected from consumers along with CC charges for September and October.
It may be recalled that the APERC issued an order on August 27, allowing the Discoms to recover Rs 3,669 crore in installments over a period of eight months from August as true-up charges at the rate of Rs 397.42 crore per month at Rs 1.11 to Rs 1.27 per unit. The Discoms had started collecting true-up charges from consumers.
APCPDCL to adjust collected true-up charges in Dec bills
However, the APERC had suo motu withdrawn its order in October after a petition was filed in the High Court opposing the collection of true-up charges and decided to conduct a fresh public hearing going by the allegations that due procedure was not followed in taking the decision.
The Discoms which already levied true-up charges in September and October, were asked to adjust the true-up charges collected from the consumers along with CC charges.
In a recent public hearing conducted by the APERC, CPM secretariat member Ch Babu Rao raised the issue of Discoms not adjusting the true-up charges collected from power consumers. In response, the APERC Secretary, in a letter written to him stated that the APSPDCL and APEPDCL have already adjusted the collected true-up charges in subsequent bills of consumers and the APCPDCL will adjust the same in the bills to be issued to its consumers in December.