Rosaiah against hiking domestic power tariff

Refusing to add to the burden on the domestic consumers, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, has rejected the proposal of a power tariff hike. This will benefit 1.8 crore domestic consumers. Mr Rosaiah has, however, agreed to a hike in the power tariff for industries and the commercial sectors.

When officials from the power board presented their briefs on the 2010-11 tariff proposals to the Chief Minister, he told them not to press for a hike on the tariff for domestic consumers just before the local body elections.

The Transco and Discoms had proposed a tariff hike for high-end consumers who use more than 300 units a month. Mr Rosaiah rejected this proposal too stating that the government will not put pressure on the middle class that is already facing the economic slowdown and dealing with rising prices of essential commodities.

Meanwhile, the submission of the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) report, that was to be submitted on Monday, will now be submitted on Tuesday as some of the Discom CMDs could not reach the city on time.

A revision of rate slabs within the domestic sector was proposed by the Transco to earn higher revenues. Exclusive slabs for multiplexes and shopping malls have also been proposed. New slabs in the commercial category to collect Rs 7 per unit will be introduced.

Transco and Discoms CMDs will submit these proposals to the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Tuesday, and public hearings on the same will be organised across the state. After these hearings conclude, the ERC will give its verdict on the tariff proposals and these will be implemented from July.

“We are yet to decide on whether the new tariffs will be applicable for the entire year or from the date of implementation,” said the chairman and managing director of APTransco, Mr Ajay Jain.

Mr Rosaiah has also decided not to make changes in the free power scheme though the Planning Commission raised some reservations over this. But former chief minister YSR’s poll promise — to increase the duration of free power supply from the existing seven hours to nine hours — is not being considered. A severe shortage of power being cited as the reason.