Supreme Court verdict to add costs to industrial consumers

Hyderabad: Legal experts at the Hyderabad High Court said on Monday that the verdict of the Supreme Court would pave the way for levying Fuel Surcharge Adjustment (FSA) on electricity consumers wherever such provisions had been included by the states in their Electricity Reforms Acts.

A majority of states across the country had adopted electricity reforms after 1995 by constituting transmission corporations and power generation corporations by abolishing their electricity boards, and also by constituting electricity regulatory commissions bestowed with the power to grant licences and fix tariff for supply of power.

Advocate Challa Gunaranjan, who appeared for industrial consumers before the High Court and also before the Supreme Court, said that though the apex court’s verdict would pave way for the electricity distribution companies, it would have a huge financial burden on industrial consumers as they will have to pay huge sums every year.

Telangana State Transmission Corporation’s joint-managing director Mr C. Srinivasa Rao meanwhile said the Supreme Court order was a major relief for the power utilities in the state.

“Many industries had not paid FSA levied earlier and had gone to court. Now, the power utilities will get crores of revenue along with interest on FSA arrears,” he said.