BHUBANESWAR: In a move that could significantly inflate the electricity bills of consumers from next year, the State-owned power trading utility Gridco has asked for a 30 per cent hike in the bulk supply price (BSP) for 2022-23 over the tariff approved for the current fiscal.
Filing its annual revenue requirement and BSP application for the next financial year before the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), the power trading licensee has proposed a supply price of 385.21 paise per unit against the current average of 296.29 per unit.
If the proposal is approved, it will have a cascading effect on the retail supply tariff (RST). As such power consumers of the State are paying through the nose for the hefty hike of 50 paise per unit (20 paise from April to September and 30 paise from October to March) in the last fiscal followed by another 30 paise per unit in the RST in 2021-22.
Based on projections submitted by distribution companies (discoms) as well as projections for captive generating plants (CGPs) for emergency supply of power, Gridco said it will have to meet a demand of 28,474 million units (MU) in 2022-23.
Considering transmission loss at three per cent based on OERC approval for OPTCL for 2021-22, the actual requirement of power is 29,354.67 MU. Estimating the power purchase cost at Rs 11,464.63 crore and revenue earning of Rs 8,431.24 crore from sale of energy of 28,414 MU to discoms during 2022-23, Gridco said it will face a revenue deficit of Rs 25,14.21 crore.
Gridco proposes a 30 per cent hike in bulk supply price
The trading utility has worked out its net annual revenue requirement at Rs 10,945.36 crore at the existing BSP. “In order to make up for the revenue deficit, Gridco proposes a BSP of 385.21 paise per unit,” the petition said.
Projecting the total energy available to the State for 2022-23 at 36,391.31 MU, the petitioner submitted that there will be surplus energy of 7,036.64 MU after meeting the demands of the discoms.
Gridco proposed to sell the surplus power at a variable cost of Rs 3.40 per unit. The estimated revenue from sale of surplus power will be Rs 2,033.59 crore which will reduce the power purchase cost.
Arguing in favour of an upward revision of the bulk supply tariff, Gridco said its total loan outstanding was Rs 8,101.89 crore as of March 31, 2021, due to non-cost reflective BSP tariffs, disallowance of carrying cost of regulatory assets, and receivables outstanding from discoms. Besides, the repayment liability for 2022-23 is Rs 1,380.21 crore towards loans taken from commercial banks (except State government loans and NTPC bonds).
The financial crisis of the company is also due to non-payment of BSP in time by discoms. An amount of Rs 1,616 crore is pending for recovery from the discoms as on September 30, 2021.