Power tariff hike implemented in a manner acceptable by all, says Senthilbalaji

Minister reiterates that the hike was unavoidable due to difficult financial situation

Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji on Wednesday said the latest hike in the power tariff had been implemented in a manner acceptable to all, and it was unavoidable due to the prevailing financial situation.

Delivering his inaugural address at FICCI’s TANEnergy summit, the Minister stressed the need to augment the State’s own power generation capacity, which stands at 7,175 MW, while the current average demand per day is 17,000 MW. “We have worked on the power tariff hike proposals for over 15 months. Based on a request from industries, we have revised some of the proposals,” he said.

He said that while there was a capability to produce 32,000 MW through own generation, only 7,175 MW had been generated. It was estimated that the State’s power demand would touch 65,000 MW in the next 10 years and the Chief Minister had instructed officials to fasten work to augment the capacity to 32,000 MW, which would meet about 50% of the requirements.

Mr. Senthilbalaji pointed out that efforts were on to add 20,000 MW of new generation capacity in the next 10 years. Tangedco is undertaking works to add 6,000 MW, as announced in the Assembly. Of the 13,000 MW of hydro capacity, works are on for adding 9,800 MW.

However, Mr. Senthilbalaji said it was not possible for Tangedco to add the required capacity and sought for industry partnership. He said efforts were on to add solar capacity along with storage systems.

The Minister said Tangedco’s line losses were currently above 15% and every 1% reduction in losses would result in savings of ₹800 crore.