VIJAYAWADA: A plea has been made for full cancellation of the electricity true-up charges system especially in the context of the Covid-related difficulties the people are facing. Attending the online public hearing on the charges conducted by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission, the CPIM representative also objected to the online public hearing. He said most people were out of the reach of such meetings.
CPIM state executive committee member Babu Rao, instead, sought a public hearing in normal manner to receive suggestions and objections.
He said Discoms have not shown the amounts received from the AP government first under financial restructuring scheme and later under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). The Discoms also did not explain whether the amounts received under the two schemes were adjusted in their true-up claims for distribution business, he said.
“There is a need to examine whether the amounts received from the government were used to adjust the true-up charges; and if not, the APERC should examine the same and cancel true-up charges.”
Babu Rao said a majority of the people were largely affected by the coronavirus crisis in the past two years. The state government should reduce taxes and give relief to people. Rather, the government was imposing as high as Rs 3699 crore as true-up charges to power consumers.
He also objected to the imposing of true-up charges for the 2014-19 period in the present Covid crisis period. “No one would collect charges for the use of a thing in the past but Discoms are trying to rob money from the public in this difficult situation in the name of true-up charges,” he said.
Babu Rao recalled that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had, during the 2019 elections, promised to reduce electricity charges. But, after coming to power, the chief minister imposed an extra financial burden on the people by ignoring his promise. He urged APERC to cancel the true-up charges and urged the CM to take measures for permanent cancellation of true-up charges.
