BHUBANESWAR: Industrial consumers of the State are paying more than the actual cost of electricity for the past few years, thanks to the erroneous methods applied by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for determination of average tariff for different categories of consumers.
The tariff has cost the industrial consumers an additional Rs 1,090 crore in 2020-21 and about Rs 1,200 crore in 2021-22. With the collection efficiency of 99 per cent, the four power distribution companies (discoms) operating in the State have collected huge excess tariff from industrial consumers under the high tension (HT) and extra high tension (EHT) category.
The discoms have billed higher tariff by 108.89 per unit for Rs 447.67 crore and 63.79 per unit for Rs 232.36 crore to the EHT and HT consumers respectively than the average tariff determined and approved by commission for 2020-21.
Similarly, as per the estimated data for 2021-22 submitted by discoms during the current tariff proceeding for 2022-23, they have billed excess tariff by 95.59 per unit for Rs 459.12 crore and 47.14 per unit for Rs 188.65 crore to the two categories of consumers respectively.
An analysis of OERC tariff orders for the last two years by experts revealed that the overall average tariff billed by the discoms to the consumers is higher by 24.94 per unit for Rs 463.98 crore and 35.89 a unit for Rs 756.85 crore than the average tariff determined by OERC for the two financial years respectively.
The discrepancies in the average tariff determined by OERC is due to the exclusion of non-tariff income of Rs 545.80 crore for 2020-21 and Rs 505.23 crore for 2021-22 of the discoms. This contravenes provisions of OERC (Terms and Conditions for Determination of Retail Supply Tariff) Regulations, 2014, sources said.
The other reason for the higher tariff in 2020-21 is due to an estimate of excess power purchase cost amounting to Rs 235 crore. In due consideration to non-tariff income and exclusion of high power cost, the average tariff of discoms should ideally be 489.33 and 525.39 per unit for 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively whereas OERC approved 524.62 and 548.40 per unit for the corresponding period.
It is evident that the commission did not cross-verify and validate the notified category-wise tariff with its approved average tariff before issue of tariff notifications. Costly electricity tariff has made Odisha non-competitive as far as industrialisation is concerned as energy-intensive industries are preferring neighbouring states where power is comparatively cheaper.