BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) on Tuesday urged the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) to increase the transmission tariff from the existing rate of 28 paise per unit to 32.19 paise per unit for 2023-24.
Submitting the aggregated revenue requirement and tariff proposals of the company, OPTCL managing director Sanjay Mishra said the transmission utility has estimated its revenue requirement at Rs 1,102 crore for wheeling 34,236 million unit equivalent to 3830.82 MW in the next financial year. The transmission charges will come to 32.19 paise per unit.
He said OPTCL will be having revenue deficit of Rs 143.39 crore considering the ARR proposed and the revenue to be earned from wheeling of 34236 MU at the existing transmission tariff of 28 per unit.
The petitioner said that the transmission loss of OPTCL is already very low which means further loss reduction is bit difficult. The company has been able to reduce transmission loss by commissioning a number of new transmission projects strategically and adopting innovative schemes under master maintenance plan (MMP) during last few years.
The actual transmission loss in the OPTCL system from April to September 2022 is 3.14 per cent against commission’s approval of three per cent for FY 2022-23. It expects the loss level to remain around 3.15 per cent in the current financial year. Accordingly, OPTCL proposes 3.10 per cent transmission loss for FY 2023-24.
Consumer counsel World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), Pune analysed the tariff proposal from the consumer viewpoint.OERC which has started public hearing for determination of power tariff for the coming fiscal from Monday also heard the submission of State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) which proposed an annual revenue requirement of Rs 14.53 crore for 2023-24 as against the commission approval of Rs 11.5 crore for the current fiscal.Eight persons filed objections to OPTCL proposals while there were three objectors to SLDC proposals.