Power tariff hike hurts TS industries: FTCCI
As the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved proposals of TSDISCOMs for steep increase in power tariff from April 1, the new rates will hurt industrial performance as it is going to affect the operational cost of every type of industry, be it on LT (low tension) or HT (high tension) line.
image for illustrative purpose
Hyderabad: As the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved proposals of TSDISCOMs for steep increase in power tariff from April 1, the new rates will hurt industrial performance as it is going to affect the operational cost of every type of industry, be it on LT (low tension) or HT (high tension) line.
The cost of power will now be higher than in the neighbouring States such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, affecting the competitiveness of industry located in Telangana, said Bhasker Reddy, President of the Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI).
Anil Agarwal, Senior Vice President of FTCCI, expressing concern over the abnormal increase said that there is no ground for DISCOMs to resort to such hike as annual recurring revenue (ARR) was not filed for the last four years and True-Up is not submitted.
It is unfortunate that the ERC has agreed to proposals of increase in demand and energy charges of DISCOMs for industrial consumers in toto affecting the production cost, more so for power intensive industries such as steel, cement, paper and spinning mills.
The increase in charges is more than 18 per cent for industrial consumers, unlike the claim made by the commission that overall increase is 14 per cent. When industry is facing with turbulent external market conditions and inflation in the country, the steep increase in power tariff adds to the woes of industry.
The FTCCI appeals the State government to come to the rescue of industry in view of the abnormal increase in tariffs. The commission has also allowed additional surcharge of Rs 1.15/ KWH applicable for the first half of next fiscal making power purchase prohibitively high for Open Access consumers.
In the absence of any incentives to the industry, the present increase in energy and demand charges is going to hurt industry. The ferro alloy industry of HT I (B) category has received a death blow because of tariff shock due to introduction of fixed charges of Rs 475 per KVA and energy charges hike by Rs 1.65. This not only goes against the basic tenets of Electricity Act which recognises Load Factor as base for computing cost of service and there by tariff rates. It also leads to closure of ferro alloy units in the State and migration to neighbouring states.
