UPPCL develops cold feet on tariff revision proposal

LUCKNOW: The UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has developed cold feet on sending the annual revenue requirement (ARR) proposal for the current financial year to the regulator apparently in view of Lok Sabha elections next year, sources familiar with the matter said.

Now, the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) that has sent several reminders to the UPPCL asking it to file the ARR, may suo motu revise the tariff to comply with the sevenyear old order of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) that asked regulators to revise tariff on their own if the licencees did not file ARR for aparticular year.

Through ARR, UPPCL informs UPERC about its total expenditure and revenue collection expected during the given financial year and demands tariff increase accordingly to fill the deficit, if any.

UPPCL’s ARR for 2017-18 had projected the revenue deficit to be around Rs 19,000 crore.

“We have not received ARR from UPPCL/discoms for the current year despite several reminders. The Commission will take a final call on the matter soon,” a source in UPERC said.

According to sources, the regulator is unlikely to increase tariff even if it has to revise it.

They said UPERC might make a few minor revisions in the existing tariff and issue directions to UPPCL but would not increase tariff, especially for domestic, commercial, agricultural and industrial categories.

Last month, UPERC chairman RP Singh had said there was little scope for any further tariff increase and UPPCL should focus on efficiency to improve its financial health.

As per rules, UPPCL should have filed the ARR for the current financial year by November 30, 2017, for the new tariff to become effective from April 1, 2018 but UPPCL has already lost five months in the current year and has not filed ARR yet.

“It is a forgone conclusion that UPPCL will not file tariff revision for 2019-20 too before May-June 2019 when the Lok Sabha elections will be over. This means the tariff for next year, even if it gets revised, may be applicable for 4-5 months only,” sources said.

A senior UPPCL official, who did not wish to be named, confirmed that there was no plan to seek tariff hike this year.

“We got adequate tariff hike last year and now our effort is to get that tariff first by making revenue collection efficient,” he said.