Moderate hike in power charges in state likely
The state government appears to be setting the stage for a moderate, if not steep, hike in power charges to resolve the financial crisis being faced by the distribution companies in the state.
A high-level committee, comprising finance minister T. Harish Rao and energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy and chairman and managing director of both generation and transmission utilities D. Prabhakar Rao arrived at a conclusion after three days of brain-storming that discoms had been suffering losses despite the strong backing from the government. It also felt that there was a need for finding alternative measures to reduce losses.
An official press release sought to explain in great detail the financial burden faced by discoms on account of two flagship programmes of the government — free and uninterrupted power supply to the farm sector and low-income groups on the domestic front.
It also made a lengthy comparative analysis with other states. Telangana set a record for supplying 24 hours power, despite it being the newest state. Comparing the electricity tariffs of BJP and Congress-ruled states, the ministers expressed satisfaction that quality power was being provided to the customers at reasonable costs. For instance, `1.45 paise is being collected per unit from customers utilising less than 50 units power per month. To give relief to the lowermiddle and middle class families, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao extended `10,000 crore annual subsidy to Discoms, the officials said.
Among other states,
`3.30 per unit is being charged in Gujarat, `three in Uttar Pradesh,
`3.49 in Punjab and the highest of`4.02 per unit in West Bengal for less than 50 units of consumption. Even on the slabs front, Telangana has the lowest tariff.
Telangana discoms are incurring expenses
of`7.24 per unit of power and they have been supplying at `1.45 per unit in the less than
50 units slab, `2.60 per unit in the under 100 units slab and `4.30 per unit in the under 200 units slab. The variation in costs is being covered by the state government. For agriculture connections, Gujarat, UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal collect monthly charges from farmers, whereas Telangana provides free power, the officials said.