GERC revises power tariff without tariff petition
Sunday, 03 June 2012
Ahmedabad

The Commission issued its Orders on these petitions on June 2, 2012. Based on the audited accounts of the FY'11, the commission has revised aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) for FY'11 of the four distribution companies. Accordingly, the resultant gap for FY'11 works out as Rs 240 crore. Further the consolidated gap for FY'13 is projected as Rs 1260 crore. The overall gap is estimated to be Rs 1,500 crore.
From June 1 Gujarat consumer's power bill will increase by 10 paise per unit. The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) on 02-06-2012 took suo moto decision on the price hike for the first time after none of the four state owned distribution companies filed their tariff petitions keeping in mind the election year. It was only Torrent Power Limited (TPL) that had pleaded for the routine 10 paise hike in January this year according to GERC officials. Last year, APTEL has directed SERCs to revise the power tariff suo moto even if DISCOMs fails to submit tariff petition.

The regulator also passed a tariff order for Torrent Power that distributes electricity in Ahmedabad and Surat. The GERC directed all the four distribution companies to submit the audited accounts of FY'11 and other relevant details in this regard.

The hike will not be applicable for the first 50 units on the consumption bill of residential and agricultural consumers for areas that are supplied electricity by state owned companies. In areas covered by TPL, this exemption is only for residential areas. This arrangement is a respite for the lower income families. The GERC also announced that the hike will not be applicable to Below Poverty Line (BPL) consumers.

GERC chairman P K Mishra said though the hike was marginal, the overall bills of a large number of consumers will reduce from July if the quarterly Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjust (FPPPA) charges reduce by 16 paise for state owned power companies. In Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar and Surat, which has TPL as its electricity supplier, GERC expects a 20 paise reduction in FPPPA charges from July and will help overall reduction in the bills of consumers.

"The hike is a marginal 1.53 per cent in Gujarat as compared to some industrialized states where tariffs have gone up by 37 per cent. This year we have even revised the formula for calculating tariff rates. Earlier the companies used to calculate tariff on per unit, but this year we have asked them to calculate on the basis of fixed costs," says Mishra.

The additional revenue that is projected out of the hike is Rs 329 crore according to GERC. The commission has revised the Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) for all the four state owned distribution companies. As a result of which the resultant revenue gap was worked out to be Rs 240 crore. In case of TPL the overall gap of Rs 116 crore was estimated.