Agartala: Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission (TERC) has decided to increase the power tariff by seven per cent on the present charges to support the annual revenue deficit of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL).
TERC Chairman D Radhakrishna on Saturday said that TSECL in the tariff revision petition in June this year stated the total projected revenue gap of Rs.1100.60 Crpre and proposed to recover the deficit through increasing tariffs including a gap resulting from truing up and pending regulatory assets.
“If the claim of TSECL’s revenue gap is considered that roughly translates the tariff hike of around 150 per cent but prudently Tripura we pruned it to Rs 60 Crore for which a 7% tariff hike has become inevitable,” Radhakrishna said.
He attributed that TERC held rounds of hearings on the claim and discussions with different stakeholders and finally decided on the power tariff hike in two components.
According to Radhakrishna, TSECL will increase Rs 5 in fixed charges which is the lowest in the country, and the remaining amount in energy rates to earn Rs 60 Crore additional revenue.
The Commission has also emphasized the generating company to improve its performance in years to come so that at least ten lakh consumers should get cheaper power like from hydro and solar sources, he said and added, “This is one of the lowest increase of power tariff in the country in the past 10 years considering the consumers’ interest.”
Meanwhile, the decision of TERC couldn’t make TSECL happy and they argued the abrupt increase in power purchase cost which is governed by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s regulations, an increase in the price of natural gas, an increase in the inter-state transmission charges, an increase of establishment cost and inflation over the years have become unmanageable for the company.
Moreover, TSECL had proposed to change in rebate for incremental consumption in industries, rebate for Greenfield industries, Load Factor Rebate for Power Intensive Industries, separate tariff category for IT and ITES consumers, power factor rebate/penalty for industrial consumers, separate tariff category for electric vehicles and rationalization of fixed charges for all consumers, which was not adequately addressed by TERC decision, it added.
