Telangana discoms sought more time to seek power tariff hike

HYDERABAD: Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company (TSSPDCL) and Telangana State-Northern Power Distribution Company (TSNPDCL) have sought more time to submit new power tariff hike.

They sought the extension proposals for the third time till January 26 for submitting tariff hike proposals.

First, the Discoms submitted their annual revenue requirement (ARR) proposals on November 30, 2016, to the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) and asked for one month time to submit the tariff proposals.

For the second time, the both Discoms once again requested another extension till January 18 for finalizing the proposals on December 31.

A senior official in the energy department said. “Now, we have asked another week’s time to prepare The Discoms submitted their annual revenue requirement (ARR) proposals on November 30, 2016, to the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) and sought from it one month time to submit the tariff proposals e and submit the proposals. The final tariff proposals will be presented to the ERC on January 26.”

The Discoms did not include the revenue deficit anticipated for the next financial year in the ARR, which includes power purchase cost, employee wages cost, and transmission and distribution costs.

The two companies seeks  31,930 crore revenue to ensure power supply in this year. The Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) of the Central government has resulted in big savings to the Discoms.

The state government has taken over 8,920 crore debt owned by Discoms and bear the interest on their own.

Telangana Transco official said.”This will greatly change the revenue deficit and annual revenue requirement figures. Now, we will present the revised figures to the state government and based on the subsidy assured by the state government, the tariff hike will be decided.”

It is not known whether the TRS government will the extent of subsidy this time as Rs 4,385 crore has been sanctioned towards its subsidy to the power sector in the last year.