Visakhapatnam: If the government does not bail out state-run power transmission utilities in Andhra Pradesh, power tariffs in 2017 may go up.
The Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) and Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) recently submitted their annual revenue requirements for the 2017-18 financial year to the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC). They presented a projected loss of abo-ut Rs 7,177 crore.
While the annual revenue requirement is about Rs 10,481 crore, the EPDCL projected total revenue from the current tariffs as Rs 8,894 crore, a revenue deficit of Rs 1,587 crore. The revenue deficit of SPDCL stands at Rs 5,590 crore for 2017-18 FY.
According to an EPDCL official, they are providing electricity to the households at very low tariffs, which could be attributed to the losses. “With the lowest transmission and distribution losses among all the discoms in the country, we brought down the annual losses to the minimum compared to what they were a few yea-rs ago,” the official added.
In their report, the SPDCL informed that the average cost of supply per unit stands at Rs 5.96 while the average revenue realisation was Rs 4.26 per unit. That leaves a revenue gap of Rs 1.7 per unit. It has been nearly Rs 0.89 per unit in the EPDCL region.
In their report, the two discoms asked the ERC to give them time to submit tariff proposals. But on the positive side, the EPDCL and SPDCL enjoy a surplus energy of about 10,930 million units for 2017-18.
In 2015, the discoms projected combined losses of about Rs 5,174 crore for 2016-17 financial year. Instead of pitching for a direct tariff hike, the discoms opted for re-grouping of the consumers based on their energy usage to shore up their revenues in 2016.
But the ERC has limited the tariff hikes of the two discoms to Rs 216 crore for 2016-17, including Rs 42 crore for the EPDCL. This year, the discoms are expected to submit their tariff proposals by December-end. Thereafter, the ERC will conduct public hearings all over the state over the proposals.
