Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh distribution companies have proposed a six per cent hike on existing power tariff for middle, upper classes as well as industrial and commercial consumers, earning an extra Rs1,261 crore.Discoms submitted the proposals to the Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday after getting a signal from the government. The ERC will scrutinise the annual revenue requirements and tariff proposals and come up with a report by March 6.
Broadly, the discoms have proposed no hike for up to 100 units of power, totalling 99 lakh people. The agriculture sector continues to be exempt. Consumers below 50 units pay Rs1.45 per unit; and those below 100 units pay Rs2.60. For consumers between 100-200 units, two categories have been proposed: For the first 100 units, consumers may need to pay an additional 16 paisa per unit; for 101-200 units, 22 paisa.
Consumers above 200 categories are proposed to have eight slabs: 0-50 units, 51-100 units, 101-150 and so on, and hike is expected between 16 and 57 paisa per unit. Those who consume above 500 units a month will have to pay Rs8.88 a unit if the new tariff structure is approved. For commercial consumers including non-domestic ones, the proposed hike ranges from 32 paisa to 52 paisa. Those who consume above 500 units a month will pay Rs 9.68 per unit if the proposals are accepted.
A new tariff of Rs11.69 per unit has been proposed for advertising hoardings. Industries face a hike of 35 paisa a unit. According to proposals, it varies from industry to industry. Units which exceed 10 HP connected load are to be billed on par with industrial category. Discoms have estimated a revenue increase of 5.6 per cent and increase in realisation will be 25 paisa per unit in the next fiscal.
The discoms had stated that they require Rs 30,308 crore. Revenue from the current tariff is projected as Rs 22,592 crore, pointing to a deficit of Rs 7,716 cr.
By hiking the tariff, discoms expect to get Rs 1,261 crore more, leaving a deficit of Rs 6,455 crore. Discoms have asked the government to arrange this amount as subsidy. If the ERC feels that the discoms don’t need '30,308 crore and recommends some reduction, the subsidy component will be reduced.
