Telangana: Discoms proposal to hike power tariff shot down

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday ruled out power tariff hike this year. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Mr Rao said the Discoms had submitted tariff hike proposals but he had rejected them as the entire debt burden of Discoms (over Rs 11,000 crore) was taken over by the state government by joining Centre’s UDAY scheme and there was no need to burden the people by increasing power charges on account of this.

“The entire debt burden has been taken over by government. This has saved Discoms from paying over Rs 850 crore interest on loans every year. Now Discoms are free from debt and interest payment. In these conditions, I told them where was the need to hike power charges and rejected the proposals,” Mr Rao said. However, the Discoms are insisting on power tariff hike. The TSERC is yet to take a decision on revising power charges.