Telangana: Suspense over power tariff hike

Hyderabad: Will the state government agree to a power tariff hike or not? This is the big question now as the deadline for the proposed hike is just two weeks away.

It may be mentioned here that the Discoms have sought the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) for a tariff hike. The TSERC had conducted public hearings and also sought the opinion of the Discoms on the objections raised by the civic society and opposition parties against the tariff hike. Though the new tariff, if approved, has to come into effect from April 1, the government has not yet taken any decision. The Discoms had proposed the hike in tariff by 50 paise per unit in the Domestic sector and Re 1 per unit in Commercial and Industrial sectors. They also requested to hike the service charges and demand charges, which were being collected from Industry and commercial consumers.

In all, the Discoms were expecting to generate Rs 6,800 crore additional revenue from the tariff hike in the next financial year. It is being said that the government was in two minds on whether or not to give its nod for hike in view of the developing political situation following the election results of five state assemblies and slugfest between the opposition and ruling party on people's issues.

AAP and Congress have announced free power up to 300 units for domestic consumers in Punjab. AAP had succeeded in winning the voters' confidence in Punjab and the free power is one of the main promises that attracted people to support the party. Though the party could not win the elections, Samajwadi Party secured a good number of seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and promise of free power up to 300 units was one of the reasons for emerging as the main opposition.

Though the TS government was supplying free power to agriculture sector and providing free power up to 100 units to SC and ST colonies, sources said that the Discoms were permitted to submit new tariff proposals to overcome the financial constraints faced by them but the political atmosphere in Telangana was changing fast which has forced the government to have a rethinking. It may either decide not to go in for a tariff hike or it may opt for a bare minimum hike. However, the picture will be clear in about one weeks' time, sources added.