TSERC told to keep hike low

Hyderabad: Experts from the power sector and social activists on Wednesday urged the TS Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) to keep the proposed power tariff hike as low as possible besides ensuring telescopic tariff slabs. The Discoms had sought to raise Rs 1,958 crore through power tariff hikes. The request came during a public hearing conducted by TSERC on Wednesday.

The experts and social activists blamed the Discoms for indiscriminately purchasing power at higher costs from private power producers to ensure 24x7 power supply as per the directions of the Chief Minister.
Submitting the objections against the proposed power tariff hike M. Venugopal Rao of the Centre for Power Development said the TSERC should exercise its authority impartially and look into the power purchases made by Discoms on short-term basis without seeking the commission’s approval.

Discoms did not give details of companies from which they purchased power and at what rate, he said. “On the pretext of meeting peak load demand, power has been purchased at higher prices, ultimately burdening domestic consumers. Commercial and industrial consumers pass on any tariff hike to all consumers, thus every consumer is affected,” he said.

D. Narasimha Reddy of People’s Monitoring Group wanted to know why should the Telangana government bail out a private company like India Bulls, referring to TSGenco’s agreement with the firm as part of which, the latter’s sub-critical technology was transferred to the former for its Bhadradri thermal plant.

Jeevan Kumar of the Human Rights Forum highlighted the plight of farmers due to improper earthing of transmission and distribution lines by the Discoms. Over 246 fatal accidents occurred in 2015-16 due to the power supply system not being maintained properly, he said. Mr Jeevan Kumar said that most of these accidents could have been avoided.