The irrigation department accounts for the biggest share—₹29,264 crore—towards electricity charges for lift-irrigation schemes: Reports
HYDERABAD: Telangana’s power distribution companies will begin recovering ₹5,420.23 crore from non-agricultural consumers from November, even as they face a much larger strain from unpaid dues of state government departments, estimated at ₹57,336 crore.
The irrigation department accounts for the biggest share—₹29,264 crore—towards electricity charges for lift-irrigation schemes. These pending payments have squeezed the discoms’ working capital and added to liabilities, while they must still make timely payments to generators, transmission utilities and fuel suppliers.
The latest recovery covers only 2022-23 and 2023-24. The larger claim remains unresolved: between FY 2016-17 and FY 2022-23, actual power purchase costs exceeded approved estimates by ₹10,281.73 crore.
With ₹203.83 crore under wheeling true-up and ₹2,232.84 crore under the UDAY agreement added, the discoms had sought to recover ₹12,718 crore from consumers. The earlier BRS government reportedly agreed to absorb this by paying ₹2,543.6 crore annually for five years, with interest as per RBI norms, but instalments were not paid and the liability remains.
The ERC had permitted a 30-paise-per-unit recovery during the BRS regime, but discoms did not implement it, leaving the legacy dues unresolved as fresh claims piled up.
For the recent two years, the gap between power purchase costs and revenue collections is ₹7,635.22 crore — ₹5,186.29 crore for 2022-23 and ₹2,448.93 crore for 2023-24.
TGSPDCL’s share is ₹5,665.42 crore, while TGNPDCL’s is ₹1,969.80 crore. The state government must reimburse ₹2,214.99 crore for the agricultural component—₹1,442.49 crore for TGSPDCL and ₹772.50 crore for TGNPDCL—under its free-power policy.
The TGERC has allowed recovery of ₹5,420.23 crore from non-agricultural consumers — ₹4,222.93 crore in TGSPDCL’s area and ₹1,197.30 crore in TGNPDCL’s. The levy will be 30 paise per unit in November bills and 50 paise thereafter, spread over 29 months in TGSPDCL and 26 months in TGNPDCL.
Charges will be linked to each consumer’s electricity use in 2022-23 and 2023-24, with one-twelfth of annual consumption taken as monthly billing. Consumers will not pay beyond the true-up amount tied to their past usage.
The Commission has directed discoms to show the true-up charge separately in bills, with financial year, monthly consumption and rate applied. If recovery covers both years, amounts must be shown separately.
With government departments owing ₹57,336 crore and the earlier ₹12,718-crore liability still pending, the latest order shifts part of the recent cost gap to consumers, while leaving government reimbursements and wider receivables unresolved—keeping the power sector’s finances under severe strain.
