No appointment of legal member in TNERC: TECA opposes tariff hike

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers Association, a body representing industrial consumers, urged TANGEDCO to reconsider its decision to hike the electricity charges saying that the overall cost increase due to the hike in electricity charges will have an escalating cost impact on the goods and services available in the state and the common man will be affected.

In its statement analysing the tariff petition, TECA said that the proposed tariff hike for various consumers in the high-tension category ranges from 6 per cent to 18 per cent in the energy charges and 71 per cent to 100 per cent in the demand charges.

In the case of the low tension consumer categories like government educational institutions, hospitals and research labs and private institutes and hostels and industries, it said that the energy charges hike ranged from 13 per cent to 40 per cent while the fixed charges are hiked from 1.66 times to 17 times. The utility has introduced the time of day charges for the peak hours for those low-tension consumers.

“TANGEDCO has not only requested for revision of tariff for 2022-23 but for a 5-year period. The tariff revision for 2023-2024, 2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27 has been proposed at a six per cent increase (or) based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) whichever is lower, ” TECA president S Ashok said, adding that the proposal to increase the cost at the rate of six per cent year on year is also too high for any category of consumer and such increases will make Tamil Nadu state a less preferred state for investments.

TECA noted that TANGEDCO filed the tariff revision petition at a time when the TNERC has no legal members on its board. Pointing to a supreme court order on the presence of a legal member in the commission, it said that the decisions on tariff hikes should be taken only after the appointment of a Legal member in the TNERC.

“On analysis of Tariff Petition, it is evident that the TANGEDCO is struggling to manage the two verticals of electricity business Viz Generation and Retail Sale of Electricity. While the Generation needs replacement of ageing power plants, technical excellence, management decisions and better communication, the distribution altogether is a different vertical which requires a different skill set, ” it said.