Power utilities preparing ground for tariff hike?
The Hindu
Retail supply tariff proposals to be filed before TSERC as rates have remained unchanged for last four years
Ahead of filing retail supply tariff (RST) proposals before the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC), the power utilities in the State, which have already sought clearance from the government for increasing the tariff that remained unchanged for the last four years, appear to be preparing ground by building up mood.
Minister for Finance T. Harish Rao and Minister for Energy G. Jagadish Reddy held discussions with senior executives of the four power utilities including Special Chief Secretary (Energy) Sunil Sharma for the second day on Tuesday. The focus was on the increasing burden forced upon by the Centre in the name of green/clean energy cess, coal prices, coal transport charges, renewable energy purchase obligation and exposure to burden in the form of some power purchase agreements such as Krishnapatnam during the discussions held on Tuesday.
The meeting was of the view that the increase of clean energy cess from ₹50 per tonne to ₹400 per tonne of coal had alone burdened the power utilities by ₹7,200 crore during that last seven years. Further, increase in coal prices by 6% to 10% every year was also burdening the two power distribution companies (Discoms) by about ₹725 crore every year. In addition, increase in the coal transportation charges had also added to the burden of Discoms as the transport charges had gone up by 40% during the last seven years. When the Discoms were struggling to plug the losses due to such charges, the compulsion of renewable power purchase obligation (RPPO) was also showing a telling impact on the plant load factor of the generating stations of the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco).
In 2011, the Karnataka government announced that five botanical gardens will be developed on the lines of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru across the State. But according to the latest developments, there will only be four such gardens as the Horticulture Department is most likely to drop the project that was supposed to come up in Chikkaballapura district.