Telangana government gives relief to power consumers, to shell out Rs 12,718.4 cr to discoms

Hyderabad: In a major relief to power consumers, the Telangana government has decided to pay Rs 12,718.40 crore true-up charges to Discoms. There will not be any change in the retail supply tariff for the financial year 2023-24. In a relief to religious structures, power tariff for temples, masjids, churches, gurudwaras and crematoriums also reduced.

Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) on Friday accepted the State government's some important proposals which includes the government's decision to pay the true up charges. The true-up charges were pending for the last 15 years. The ERC also stated that there would not be any change in the retail supply tariff for the financial year 2023-24.

Addressing a press conference, Commission Chairman T Sriranga Rao said that Discoms have informed the Commission that the State government had agreed to bear the subsidy related to irrigation and other welfare programmes for the next five years without burdening the discoms. The State government has also given its consent for subsidy commitment of Rs 9,124.82 crore for the 2023-24 fiscal, he said.

He said that the Commission has accepted the proposal to reduce power tariff for temples, masjids, churches, gurudwaras and crematoriums, from Rs 7 per unit to Rs 5 from April 1. Under LT VII B category, while religious places will have modified tariff, the fixed charges of Rs 21 have been increased to Rs 30. Following requests from the managements of religious places, the discoms have placed the recommendation in their aggregate revenue requirements (ARR) for 2023-24 that they filed with the TSERC.

According to power tariff proposals that the discoms submitted to the TSERC last December, annual aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) for the coming financial year stood at Rs 54,060 crore. Energy requirement is 83,111 million units (MU) and sales projection stands at 73,618 MU.

TSSPDCL submitted ARR for Rs 36,963 crore and TSNPDCL for Rs 17,095 crore. Total revenue expected from the present tariff is Rs 43,525 crore, with the revenue gap of Rs 10,535 crore.