The Hindu Business Line : Power tariff not to be hiked in AP

APTransco (the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh), and the four DisComs (distribution companies) have decided not to hike power tariff for all categories of consumers during the year.

The industrial consumers can expect a further reduction of unit rate during 2006-07.

For the consumers HT-I category, the power utility has proposed to take up further rationalisation in tune with the Government's policy to promote industrial growth.

APTransco, in its statutory filings with the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission, said that power tariff for industries had been reduced by 13.1 per cent in the last four years.

During 2006-07, the utility proposed to reduce the tariff by a further 3.7 per cent.

"The incentive scheme is proposed to be modified for reduction of unit rate at higher load factor. The overall proposed effective tariff would be Rs 3.56 a unit as compared to the current level of Rs 3.70."

For the first time, the utility proposed to go for voltage-wise tariff for HT category-II non-industrial consumers. It was proposed to reduce the tariff by 1.71 per cent, i.e., from Rs 5.28/kwh to Rs 5.19/kwh.

With regard to transmission and distribution losses, the utility said that the figure had been come down to 21.33 per cent from 22.53 per cent in the previous year. The utility estimated that the metered sales would be at 52.47 per cent by the year-end as against 49.9 per cent in the previous year. During 2006-07, metered sales would be increased to 54.66 per cent, an increase of 2.19 per cent from the present position.