Power tariff shoots up

Despite opposition protests and fast Charges increased by 25-30% for domestic consumers though APERC claims it is only 15%; Hefty increase for industries as well

• New power tariff comes into effect from tomorrow
• Puts `6,500 cr burden on consumers
• Slabs increased from 6 to 10
• BPL category and agri sector spared
• APERC okays `5, 480 crore govt's subsidy for Discoms

Hyderabad: Despite protests, dharnas and fasts by Opposition parties, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has hiked power tariff Power tariff for both domestic and industrial consumers from April 1. Though officially the burden on account of the hike is said to be 15 per cent, a detailed calculation of the previous and existing slabs indicates that the hike would be around 25-30 per cent. The tariff hike is expected to put an additional burden of Rs 6,500 crore on power consumers as the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) on Saturday gave nod to the Discoms proposal to hike power tariff. The Commission issued the tariff orders after taking into account the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) filed by four state owned Discoms on January 5 this year. The Commission authorities claimed that the tariff was increased by 15 per cent in domestic sector,19 per cent in LT (Low Tension) industries category and 21 per cent in the major industries (High Tension) category. The BPL (Below Poverty Line) families who use up to 50 units (Rs 1.45 per unit) and agriculture sector have been exempted from the tariff hike. Rejecting the Discoms' proposal to introduce ' non- telescopic' system in the collection of tariff on consumed power, the Commission introduced 10 slab system ( including BPL category) by replacing the existing six slabs in domestic consumer category. Under the new slab system, power tariff will be increased for every 50 units. In the previous slab system, the tariff was increased for every 100 units. Under the new tariff , if a family consumes 200 units of power per month, the first 50 units will be charged at Rs 2.60 per unit, 51 to 100 units will be charged at Rs 3.25 per unit, 101 to 150 ( Rs 4.88 each unit) and Rs 5.63 for 151 to 200 units. Accordingly, if a family consumes 200 units of power a month, they it will have to pay about Rs 817 as against the present Rs 562 they were paying. Power utilities submitted proposals to the APERC in which the total ARR was Rs 49,189 crore , of which Rs 30,562 as company's expenditure . The total revenue deficit was Rs 18,607. The Commission accepted the government's decision to give subsidy of Rs 5, 480 crore for free power and domestic sectors. The power utilities sought permission to collect Rs 12,723 crore by increasing taxes. However, the APERC accepted the proposal to mop up Rs 6500 crore from consumers through increase in tariff. On the industrial front, under HT � one category, the unit charges have been increased to Rs 5.73 from Rs 4.80 for drawl of power at 11 kv level, Rs 5.30 from Rs 4.37 at 33 kv and to Rs 4.90 from Rs 3.97 per unit at 132 kv level. The power utilities proposed an annual supply requirement of 1.03 lakh million units (mu) out of which the Commission approved 90,000 million units and the remaining power is proposed to be purchased through other sources.