VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has on Wednesday announced electricity tariff for 2021–22.
The average unit price has been reduced to Rs. 6.37 from present Rs. 7.17. Domestic consumers will no more have to pay minimum user charges. However, Rs. 10 will be collected per kilowatt of power consumed. The new tariff will come into effect from Thursday, April 1.
Disclosing elements of the new power tariff to media, APERC chairman Justice C. V. Nagarjuna Reddy disclosed that the state government has agreed to bear the burden of Rs. 7,297 crore on free electricity supplied to non-corporate farmers, sugarcane crushing units, rural horticulture nurseries and to dhobi ghats during 2021-22. The government will also pay Rs. 1,657 crore for supplying electricity free of cost to consumers involved in caste occupations, apart from Rs.136.72 crore on concessional tariff extended to the domestic consumers of APEPDCL.
In addition, the state government will bear the subsidy of Rs. 1,657.56 crore arising due to the concessional tariff/free power extended to various class of consumers, namely; SC and ST colonies / tandas, BPL Rajaka community, BPL MBC community, BPL professional goldsmiths, BPL Nayee Brahmin community, handloom weavers and aquaculture consumers.
The APERC chairman said the proposal of DISCOMs to bill apartment consumers under a single point HT connection has been rejected. This is to avoid burdening middle-class apartment dwellers. However, the proposal to remove fixed charges of Rs.100 / kW / month) for function halls has been accepted.
Also accepted are proposals to merge aqua hatcheries and aqua feed mixing plants and poultry hatcheries and poultry feed mixing plants under industry general category. LT captive feed mixing plants of poultry farms, pisciculture, prawn culture and dairy farms having independent connections and exempted from GST will be allowed to pay a tariff of Rs. 5.25 / unit and demand charges Rs. 75 per kW.
To promote usage of environmental friendly electric vehicles for transport, the commission has continued to keep the tariff for electric vehicles at Rs. 6.70 per unit.
Justice C. V. Nagarjuna Reddy said the request of private power plants, which do not have binding agreement, to include them in power procurement plan for FY 2021-22 has been rejected. This will enable DISCOMs to take advantage of real-time market opportunities towards saving power purchase costs.
DISCOMs have been directed to establish a round-the-clock dedicated cell to monitor real-time market prices. This will help replace costlier sources with cheaper sources of power and help optimise overall power purchase cost.
Meanwhile, representatives of CREDAI-AP met urban development minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Wednesday and sought 50 percent reduction in vacant land tax for providing relief to the construction sector.
CREDAI president P. Srinivas and secretary K. Subhash Chandrabose pointed out that due to Corona pandemic, construction sector has been facing many problems and has almost come to a halt. They appealed to the government increase period of approval by one year and relax setback for multi-storied buildings.
Responding to the CREDAI representatives, Satyanarayana said he will take up the issue with Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
