CM Rao Approves Power Tariff Hike

From April onwards consumers may have to pay a higher electricity bill, as CM K Chandrasekhar Rao is believed to have given go-ahead to power distribution companies for increasing the tariff.

The tariff hike would be extended to all categories of consumers, including commercial, domestic, and industrial. The revised tariff will come into effect from April 1.

The tariff hike is ranged between 8% and 10% for domestic consumers (over 100 units-1, 000 units consumption per month). It is expected to be higher for commercial and industrial categories of consumers. Rao has asked them not to burden the domestic consumers consuming up to 100 units per month.

The discoms are planning to mop up an additional Rs 1,500 crore per annum through the increased tariff rates, as per the sources.

The southern and northern power distribution companies are likely to submit tariff hike proposals along with aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) to the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) today.

Officials told KCR that while the northern discom was incurring 17 paise loss on every unit of power being supplied, the southern discom was incurring a loss of 39 paise on every unit of power being supplied to the citizens. Both northern and southern discoms owe arrears to the tune of Rs 13,700 crore.

A hike in the tariff is being allowed after 4 years to overcome over Rs 15,000 crore loss incurred by discoms.

KCR has assured the distribution companies that the government would allocate Rs 10,000 crore towards power subsidy in the upcoming budget for 2020-21 to reduce the losses incurred by them.