Of the total 1.45 crore domestic consumers in Andhra Pradesh, about 1.35 lakh consumers have been spared from power tariff hike for next fiscal beginning April 1, 2020.

Approving the retail supply tariff Order for FY 2020-2021, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory CommissionChairman CV Nagrjuna Reddy has approved power tariff hike to only 1.35 lakh consumers, who consume more than 500 units per month, from ₹9.05 per unit to ₹9.95 per unit. The rest, 1,43 crore consumers have no change in the tariff.

In its order today, the regulator outlined both the distribution licensees, APSPDCL and APEPDCL, through their Annual Revenue Receipts and financial projections, have projected a deficit of ₹14,349.07 crore at current tariffs and a deficit of ₹12,954.11 crore with the proposals of tariff hike to certain categories of consumers and to RESCOs.

After due diligence, the Commission determined a net deficit of ₹10,060.63 crore for both the licensees, thus avoiding the possible burden of ₹2,893.48 crore on the consumers or the State government.

The State government has agreed to bear the subsidy burden of ₹8,353.58 crore (18 per cent over the previous year) in respect of agricultural consumers eligible for free supply of power (non-corporate farmers, sugarcane crushing and rural horticulture nurseries) for FY2020-21 as against the subsidy amount of ₹7,064.27 crore provided for FY2019-20. As a result, this category of consumers will continue to avail the benefit of free power supply for FY2020-21.

After formation of the new State of Andhra Pradesh, the State has agreed to bear the subsidy of ₹1,707.07 crore arising due to the concessional tariff extended to the domestic consumers. As a result, the entire gap of ₹10,060.63 crore is made good by the State government.

The regulator has extended some rebates for non-profit organisations, government hospitals and government educational institutions etc as in LT Supply, exempting them from the ToD peak charges. These consumers are presently billed under Commercial Category.

The Railway traction tariff is kept at reasonable level of ₹5.50 per unit against the tariff of ₹6.50 per unit proposed by the licensees.

To promote usage of environment friendly Electric Vehicles for transport, the Commission has kept the tariff for the Electric Vehicles at ₹6.70 per unit against ₹12.25 per unit proposed by the licensees.

The Energy Intensive Industry will continue to avail the benefit of concessional tariff during FY2020-21 also without any condition for minimum consumption of 85 per cent. The licensees’ proposal to impose such condition for FY2020-21 is rejected by the Commission.

The proposal of the licensees to procure power from private power plants who are not having binding agreements is rejected in view of the surplus power arrived at by the Commission for FY2020-21 after taking into account the energy available from the Wind and Solar Sources.

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