The uncertainty over submission of tariff proposals by the Telangana power utilities is expected to end soon.
The Government had made budgetary allocation of ₹4,203 crore for the energy department, including ₹ 3,387 crore towards subsidy for the free power supply being provided to the agriculture and allied sectors.
The budget allocation comes as a major breather to the power utilities as they could not submit the tariff proposals till date for want of clarity from the Government on the subsidy component.
The delay on the part of the power utilities to finalise the tariff proposals attracted the wrath of the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission which at one point of time warned that it would finalise the tariff proposals suo motu.
Revenue deficit
“Now that we have a clear picture of the Government’s support, we will finalise the tariff proposals in a couple of days and submit to the regulator,” a senior official said.
Senior officials are, however, of the view that the quantum announced by the Government would not suffice the revenue requirement of the utilities which projected a gap of close to ₹7,000 crore for the year 2017-18.
Central support
The Government’s support of ₹4,203 crore coupled with the waiver of debt servicing burden amounting to ₹ 890 crore on the power utilities consequent on the utilities joining the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme of the Central Government making it mandatory for the State to take over a major chunk of loans of the Discoms would leave a gaping deficit of over ₹2,000 crore.
“We have not arrived at the actual deficit so far. We are hopeful of finalising the resource gap soon,” TS Transco and TS Genco Chairman and Managing Director D. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu .
He, however, refused to hazard a guess on what could be the quantum of burden that was likely to be imposed on the customers.
This assumes significance in the light of the department’s direction to the power utilities — the northern and southern power distribution companies TSNPDCL and TSSPDCL — not to burden the consumers with abnormal tariff hikes in the name of bridging the resource gap.
