APERC to hold virtual public hearing on true-up charges on October 19

Guntur: Stung by the widespread criticism on the collection of true-up charges, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) issued a public notice to hold a virtual public hearing on October 19 from its office in Hyderabad to decide whether or not to permit collection of true-up charges of Rs 3,669 crore.

Those who live in rented houses and shift from one to the other have to shell out two to three times more as electricity charges for the power consumed by the previous tenants between 2014-15 and 2018-19 fiscal years. This had led to widespread criticism and a petition was filed in the High Court opposing the move. Following that the APERC decided to recall its earlier order and go in for fresh public hearing since the allegation was that no proper time was given for arguments by different organisations.

But interestingly, the Discoms decided to turn a blind eye to the APERCs decision to put on hold any collection of true-up charges and issued notices for the month of October to consumers, including the true-up charges in the power bills. They claim that they did not get any communication from the APERC to stop the collection.

The APERC had directed the APSPDCL and APEPDCL to give wide publicity regarding the public hearing to be held on October 19. They have asked all the interested persons, associations, and stakeholders, who want to be heard in person or through authorised representatives to appear before the Commission through the video conference on the said date of hearing and submit their views, objections, suggestions on collection of true-up charges.

Speaking to The Hans India, AP Central Power Distribution Company chairman and managing director J Padma Janardhana Reddy said, "If the APERC directs to stop collection of true- up charges, we will adjust the charges collected from the consumers in their future payments. So far, we did not get any communication from the APERC. It will take a decision after conducting the public hearing. We will implement the orders of the APERC."