Move to spare domestic consumers from power tariff hike

Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) ChairmanJustice CV Nagarjuna Reddy on Saturday said that the Commission's top priority is to safeguard the interests of consumers.

Speaking at the public hearing on SPDCL annual revenue requirement(ARR) and also proposed hike of power tariff for the year 2020-2021, at SPDCL corporate office here,Justice Nagarjuna Reddy said thatkeeping in view the consumer interests, the Commission decidedto conduct review meeting regularly with the officials of TRANSCO and Power Distribution Companies on the status of complaints received by the Commission and also the officials at various level and CGRF (Consumer Grievance Redressal Forums (CGRF) to accelerate settlementof complaints.

This was intended to ensure that all the complaints were redressed.

He directed the SPDCL authorities to set up complaint boxes at alloffices and sort them outonce or twice in a month for prompt disposalof the petitions for the benefit of the consumers.

Detailing other priorities of the Commission, he said Commissionwould strive to prevent corruption and also improve internal efficiency and check technology lapses for betterment of service.

In the proposal submitted by the SPDCL, the ARR (annual revenuerequirement) was put at Rs 28,548.51 crore while the total receipts of revenue was Rs 18,247.33 crore, leaving a deficit of Rs 10,301.17 crore.

Despite the huge revenue deficit, the SPDCL had proposed only aminimum tariff hike which would fetch a total revenue of Rs 843.06crore from various sectors, including domestic, commercial, agriculture, industrial etc. to bring down the deficit to Rs 9,218 crore this financial year and the net deficit was Rs 9,365.94 crore.

The proposed hike will not affect the domestic category consumers, except those who consume power more than 500 units per month, sparing otherswho consume less than 500 units monthly.