HYDERABAD: With the TS Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) completing its public hearings on Friday, the power tariff in the State is all set to go up after a gap of five years. The tariff hike is likely to come into effect from April 1.
The State government informed the ERC that it would give necessary financial support to the Discoms, which proposed a hike of 50 paise per unit for domestic and Re 1 for HT consumers. The Discoms have proposed tariff hike for domestic consumers in the category of 1-50 units after a gap of 19 years from Rs 1.45 per unit to Rs 1.95 per unit.
Overall, the Discoms expect to generate additional revenue of Rs 6,831 crore through tariff hike in
2022-23 from 1.54 crore consumers. The ERC will shortly announce the exact tariff hike. ERC chairman T Sriranga Rao conducted the public hearing on the tariff hike here on Friday.
While explaining the financial situation of the Discoms, TSSPDCL chairman and MC G Raghuma Reddy said that after the State government’s subsidy, the Discoms would be in a deficit of Rs 2,686 crore, which would be recovered through internal efficiency like reducing the transmission losses and expenditure on human resources.
Raghuma Reddy said that they were expecting four per cent reduction in agriculture power requirement as the canal irrigation has improved and the groundwater table has been recharged. Due to the increase in the groundwater levels, the operation of agriculture motors has been reduced to five hours per day instead of ten hours in the past, he added.
Energy Department official M Leela Kumari, speaking on behalf of the State government, said that the Discoms were performing very well and the installed capacity has been increased to 17,182 MW from just 7,777 MW in 2014.
She said that the government provided Rs 9,161 crore between 2016-17 to 2020-21 to the Discoms over and above the Budget allocations. “The government is committed to extend necessary financial support to Discoms,” she said.
Revanth blames govt
Participating in the public hearing, TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy alleged that the State government, which is the biggest power consumer, is responsible for the losses of Discoms. He requested the ERC to reject the Discoms’ proposals to hike tariff. “The State government was consuming 30 per cent of the power for lift irrigation, agriculture connections and free power to SCs, STs and others. For this, the government has to provide subsidy to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore, but paying only Rs 5,000 crore to the Discoms,” he alleged.
He said that the debts of the Discoms touched Rs 60,000-crore mark. The hike for domestic consumers was 50 per cent and the overall tariff hike was 18 per cent. Revanth Reddy recalled that the tariff was just eight per cent in 2003 when police opened fire on agitators at Basheerbagh.
Revanth Reddy also alleged that officials colluded with the private players and were going in for short-term power purchases after backing down the several thermal plants in the State from April to June, when power demand will be very high and demanded that criminal prosecution proceedings be initiated against corrupt officials.
He also claimed that the number of consumers who were not paying power bills is high in Hyderabad, Siddipet and Gajwel.Meanwhile, he urged the ERC to probe the fire accident in Srisailam hydel generation station suo moto and register criminal cases against the negligent officials. He also opposed extending the services of officials aged over 60 as directors of Genco, Transco and Discoms.
Congress MLA D Sridhar Babu suggested that the State government should give the subsidy amounts to the Discoms in the same financial year. He also opposed the trend of collecting development charges without the approval of ERC.
On behalf of South Central Railway, its official Y Mallikarjuna Rao said that SCR was opposing the tariff hike. He said that the Railways were planning to go for open access and already applied for the distribution company licence. If the power tariff is increased, then the Railways would have no other option but to increase the passenger fares and freight charges. He urged the ERC to exempt Railways from cross subsidy.
The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) too strongly opposed the tariff hike on behalf of the industrial and HT consumers. FTCCI senior vice-president Anil Agarwal said that the proposed tariffs make the electricity costlier in Telangana compared to neighbouring States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. For instance, when compared to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana’s energy tariff will be 21 to 23 per cent higher, he said.
Maharashtra was offering power and load factor incentives to the industry apart from early payment discounts, he said. He also requested the ERC to stall the 2022-23 retail supply tariff proceedings till the issuance of final true-up for 2014-19 and ARR orders for 2019-2024.
Abolish true-up system
Power expert and senior journalist M Venugopala Rao requested the ERC to abolish the true-up system as the true-up costs would be passed on equally to all the consumers. He suggested that the additional costs should be included in the next year’s ARR filings. With this, no separate hearing for true-up was required
‘Take action against corrupt officials’
Revanth Reddy also alleged that officials colluded with the private players and were going in for short-term power purchases after backing down the several thermal plants in the State from April to June, when power demand will be very high and demanded that criminal prosecution proceedings be initiated against corrupt officials. He also claimed that the number of consumers who were not paying power bills is high in Hyderabad, Siddipet and Gajwel.