Govt should bear revenue deficit of discoms: Opposition

Amaravati: Opposition parties have found fault with the State government for not disclosing the measures it will take to fill the revenue gap of Discoms while it was giving assurance that the power charges will not be increased for 2018-19. 

During the public hearing of AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) in Vijayawada on Wednesday, CPM, YSR Congress, Lok Satta and farmers Unions expressed doubts over the statements of Discoms and State government on non-increase of power charges. 

CPM State council member Ch Babu Rao, former MLA and YSR Congress leader Malladi Vishnu and others said that the Discoms proposed no hike in power charges for the next financial year even though there was around Rs 8,000 crore of revenue deficit. 

“The State government must bear the revenue deficit and release funds to Discoms immediately. If not, all these financial losses will be thrown on the public in the subsequent years and consumers will be burdened with huge tariffs,” Babu Rao said. 

He also demanded that the government decrease the power charges. “Due to new technology and some other reasons, there was huge reduction in power production cost. The government has not transferred the benefits to consumers. Instead, it says that it will not increase power charges,” Babu Rao said.

Malladi Vishnu requested the APERC chairman to set up a study panel to ascertain the actual financial position of power utilities as it appears that the power utilities were slowly going into darkness due to the lopsided policies of the State government.

They also requested the APERC to review the Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with private power companies as the state government was extending the agreement time of PPAs and paying high tariffs even as the power was available at cheaper rates.

Meanwhile, farmers who came from different districts raised slogans against APTransco and revenue department and alleged that officials of those departments were harassing farmers by taking their lands forcefully for laying hi-tension power lines and other purposes without taking their consent.

A farmer from Nuzvid, Potluru Ravi, said the Transco did not pay any compensation to the farmers and was using police force to threaten them.
No hike in tariffs: APSPDCL chairman and MD MM Naiak proposed no hike in the power tariffs even though it was facing revenue deficit of Rs 6,218.63 crore for 2018-19.

The APSPDCL proposed a new subcategory  of ‘LT 5 ©’ for horticulture gardens in rural areas with a tariff rate of Rs 1.50/ unit. It also proposed ‘LT-1 ©’ category for the domestic consumers who have a power consumption of above 500 units/ month. The consumers will be given smart meters and will be given tariff discount for power consumption during 10 am to 12 pm. Another new category created by APSPDCL is ‘LT -2 ©’. Under this non-domestic category, power will be supplied to electricity vehicles. 

Tariffs will be Rs 6.95, Rs 7.95 and Rs 5.95 depending on supply of power during  peak time and non-peak time.  It also proposed to collect cross subsidy surcharge and additional surcharge from open access consumers for 2018-19. APERC Chairman Justice Bhavani Prasad, members P Raghu, Ramohan and other officials from APTransco and Discoms participated.