Tangedco may miss tariff petition date due to civic polls

According to the Tangedco sources, the tariff petition could not be filed in the view of the ongoing rural local body polls in the state.

Tangedco has filed a petition with the TNERC seeking granting of time extension for filing aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) and tariff petition for 2020-21 along the true up petition for 2016-17 and 2017-18 till December 31. TNERC has allowed the power utility time till December 31 for filing ARR and tariff petition.

Every year, the power utilities, including Tangedco, are expected to file the ARR and the tariff petition to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission before November 30 under the tariff regulation to effect the revised tariff from April 1 next year. “We had sought time till this month end, but considering the rural local body polls and ensuing urban body polls the petition could not be filed until then. Moreover, the state government will give green signal to file the tariff petition until the elections are over,” a Tangedco source added.

Pointing to the mounting losses of Tangedco, the sources said that without the tariff revision, the power utility would face a steep loss in 2020-21 as well. “Already we have defaulted the payment to the wind power generators and thermal power stations owned by the Centre and private in the last one year. If the tariff was not hiked for the coming financial year, we might default payment of the dues and it might lead to power outages as well,” warned Tangedco sources.

Power tariff was last revised by the TNERC on its own in December 2014. The Tangedco’s losses has increased to Rs 9,256 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 7,760 crore in 2017-18. At present, the Tangedco has been facing a loss of Rs 2.2 per unit with the average cost of supply is Rs 8 per unit while the average rate of realisation is mere Rs 5.8 per unit.

Tangedco sources noted that if the utilitydid not file the tariff petition, the TNERC has powers to suo motu hike the power tariff.