Power shock : Gas, Petrol, Power, What Next..?

Highlights:

♦ TSERC approves Discoms' request to increase power tariff

♦ Domestic consumers have to pay 50 paise more on each unit

♦ Commercial consumers have to pay Re 1 extra on each unit

♦ Govt sought 18% hikeBut ERC approved a hike of only 14%

Hyderabad: Power tariff in the state is going to be increased from April 1 as the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Wednesday accorded approval to the Discoms' request to increase the power tariff to overcome the financial constraints facing for years.

The domestic consumers will have to pay 50 paise additionally on each unit and for the commercial sector, the tariff has been increased by Re 1. The Government, in fact, had sought approval for a hike of 18 per cent over the existing tariff but the Commission gave approval for a hike of 14 per cent.

Commission Chairman T Sriranga Rao said that the TSERC approved the power tariff to ensure that the burden on the domestic electricity consumers was not high and the Discoms would get a relief from the debt burden which has almost doubled due to power subsidies provided for domestic and agriculture sectors.

The total number of domestic consumers in Telangana is 1.1 crore. The power consumers in the farm sector are 25.78 lakh.

The retail supply tariff for 2022-2023 financial year has been determined by the Commission after taking into consideration the subsidy commitment given by the state government for certain categories of consumers, the Chairman said.

The ERC has approved the ARR (Aggregate Revenue Requirement) of the two Discoms at Rs 35,134 crore as against Rs 39,415 crore proposed by the two power utilities. The total tariff proposals were Rs 53,053 crore whereas the Commission approved Rs 48,708 crore.

The ERC did not approve tariff proposals for EV (Electric Vehicle) charging. Sriranga Rao instructed the Discoms to submit ARR proposals by November end every year to ascertain the financial status of the utilities.

The commission suggested the power transmission companies to encourage the consumers to install pre-paid meters to generate revenues in advance and also develop a discipline in power consumption by the domestic consumers from this year.

The ERC also asked the utilities to complete the works of Smart Grid which has been taken up at Jeedimetla in the GHMC limits on a war-footing. The grid will help to reduce transmission and operational losses significantly.