Power tariff hiked in Telangana

The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) on Wednesday issued a green signal to hike power tariffs in the state by 14 per cent. The discoms, however, sought permission for a 19 per cent increase in power tariffs which impose an additional burden of Rs 6,832 crore on all types of consumers.

The hike in charges is 40-50 per cent for domestic consumers and Rs 1 per unit on other categories.

Following the power tariff hike, an additional burden of Rs 2,110 crore will be imposed on LT (low-tension) consumers and Rs 4,721 crore on high-tension (HT) consumers.

The discoms submitted the proposal of power tariff hike to TSERC on December 28 after the latter gave a week-time to submit the proposals. The Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) and Retail Supply Tariff was submitted to TSERC for 2022-23. ARRs with a revenue deficit of Rs 10,928 was filed by discoms for 2022-23 and also estimated an expenditure of Rs 53,054 crore to supply power. The discoms also estimted Rs 42,196 crore revenue earnings at the present tariffs.

It said that power tariff hike will help in generating additional revenues of Rs 6,831 crore and another Rs 4,097 crore will be generated through government support and internal efficiency measures.

Meanwhile, the subsidies will be continued by the state government to agriculture sector, SC and ST domestic consumers, hair salons and laundries as well as concession of Rs 2 per unit to power looms, poultry farms, spinning mills and others.

The government has not increased the power tariffs in the state since 2015 following which discoms incurred huge losses. The pandemic also showed a severe impact on the finances of discoms.