Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) along with other BRS leaders met the Telangana state electricity regulatory commission (TGERC) chairperson Thannir Sringara Rao on Monday, October 21 and submitted a petition appealing the rejection of the proposed hike in electricity tariff in the state.
The Sircilla MLA was joined by former state minister Jagadish Reddy and other leaders of the BRS party.
KTR appealed to the electricity regulatory board that micro and small-scale agriculture and other industries are dependent on state-provided electricity, and hiking the tariff would further burden them, who are having a hard time making a living.
The TGERC has approved an additional surcharge of Rs 1.09 per kWh for open access (OA) consumers for the second half of the 2024-25 financial year. This surcharge will apply from October 2024 to March 2025.
The decision was made following the state’s power distribution companies (DISCOMs) proposed a tariff hike in their annual revenue requirement (ARR) for the fiscal year 2024-25 aimed at generating Rs 1,200 crore to help cover a significant revenue shortfall of Rs 14,222 crore. The remaining deficit of Rs 13,022 crore is expected to be covered by subsidies from the state government.
The Telangana southern power distribution company limited (TGSPDCL) and the Telangana northern power distribution company limited (TGNPDCL) had together filed petitions requesting the surcharge of Rs 1.60 per kWh, to which the TGERC approved a revised surcharge of Rs 1.09 per kWh.
According to the tariff revision, high tension (HT) consumers using electricity in bulk amounts are expected to significantly increase both fixed charges and surcharges.
Low tension (LT) users will not have an energy charge increase while consumption above 3000 units will see a rise in the fixed charge bills.
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