TNEBEA wants govt to provide suitable subsidy for tariff hike revision

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Engineers' Association (TNEBEA) has urged Tangedco's Chairman and Managing Director to seek suitable subsidy from the State government for loss suffered by the utility owing to revising the tariff hike by 2.18 per cent instead of 4.7 per cent.

In a letter to Tangedco CMD, the association said that there is a possibility of a huge loss to Tangedco in view of the tariff revision suggested at the rate of 2.18 percent instead of 4.7 per cent.

Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC), in its tariff order, last year, said that the retail tariff should be hiked based on the consumer price index of April 2022 as the base year with a cap of 6 per cent.

The tariff hike of 4.7 per cent was arrived initially based on the April 2022 consumer price index.

As the tariff was hiked from September 2022, the CPI of August 2022 was taken into account to arrive at the tariff hike of 2.18 per cent.

The TNEBEA termed the decision to consider the CPI of August last year as an incorrect decision since it contravenes the provisions of the tariff order.

"Tariff escalation at the rate of 2.18 per cent instead of 4.7 per cent as guaranteed under the tariff order of the TNERC leads to heavy financial loss to Tangedco. It is imperative that the state government must be addressed for reimbursing enhanced subsidy at the rate of 4.7 per cent hike as per TNERC norms instead of 2.18 per cent," the letter said.

The State government had announced that it would absorb the hike for the domestic consumers and release the subsidy for the same to Tangedco.

The association was upset as the utility passed orders to the effect that dearness allowance and other benefits announced for the State government employees should not be extended to the employees of the Tangedco as it is a loss-making public sector undertaking without prior approval of the Finance Department.