Andhra Pradesh plans to dissolve Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission

Hyderabad:The AP government is toying with the idea of dissolving the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission even though it has not been mandated by the AP Reorganisation Act. While Telangana is to have a new Commission, AP too plans to dissolve the existing one.

The continuity of the same APERC is expected to result in a number of problems. “According to the AP Reorganisation Act there is only one month time before separate Electricity Regulatory Commissions should be set up. The Act mandates that the separate ERCs should be in place by November. AP is considering dissolving the ERC and setting up a new one. Telangana state meanwhile will have a separate ERC,” said a senior official.

The Commission currently has independent jurisdiction over the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but it has left discoms in a quandary over filing of the proposals and how to recover the tariff for the current year. Presently, it is dealing with many petitions from the discoms.

“The disputes, which, prior to enactment of the Reorganisation Act , was an intra-state dispute, has now been transformed into an inter-state dispute and fall under the purview of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. This stalled many crucial decisions and proceedings over the last two months, added the official.