Defer recovery of fuel surcharge in Q4 of '08-09: GUVNL to GERC

Apex electricity co indicates fall in fuel surcharge in time to come.

With fuel surcharge on power likely to decline following current fuel prices and availability of power generation, apex electricity company of the state, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL), has sought to defer recovery of fuel surcharge in fourth quarter of fiscal 2008-09. The move is mainly aimed at avoiding burden on power consumers, both residential and industrial.

According to calculations, Fuel Price and Power Purchase Adjustment Charges (FPPPA) for the fourth quarter works out to be Rs. 0.99 per unit. In the third quarter of the previous fiscal, fuel surcharge was Rs. 1.29 per unit, however, GUVNL has been recovering only Rs. 0.91 per unit to avoid burden on customers.

Earlier, recovery of fuel surcharge of Rs. 1.29 for the third quarter of 2008-09 was also deffered and GUVNL continued to recover Rs. 0.91 per unit.

A letter written by GUVNL to state power regulator, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC), states, "Looking to the present fuel prices and availability of generation, it is likely that FPPPA from the first quarter of 2009-10 onwards may further go down.

Therefore, the recovery of incremental FPPPA of 38 paisa per unit and 8 paisa per unit for Q3 and Q4 respectively in 2008-09 may be deffered for the present and will be recovered when FPPPA may go down below Rs. 0.91 per unit".

GUVNL has also decided to continue recovery of fuel surcharge at Rs. 0.91 per unit from consumers for the quarter April-June 2009 instead of increasing it to Rs. 0.99 per unit. The move will benefit around 85 to 90 lakh power consumers, both residential and industrial.

It may be mentioned here that Gujarat's minister of state for energy Saurabh Patel recently ruled out any possibility of power tariff hike for all the categories of consumers in the state.