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For all the categories (LT and HT) put together, the average realisation per unit of power under the proposed tariff works out at Rs 7.98 as compared with Rs 5.08 of CoS, whereas it has to be Rs 6.10 at 20 per cent over the CoS, according to the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci).
“The figures mentioned by the four discoms in their annual revenue requirement filings were so confusing that we had to engage Pricewaterhouse Coopers to bring out the true picture behind these tariff proposals,”said Devendra Surana, president of Fapcci, on Wednesday.
According to him, the proposed steep hike was aimed at extracting a higher cross subsidy of Rs 9,728 crore from the industry as compared with just 9.6 per cent over the CoS for the present year, mainly to manage the growing costs on account of free power to the agriculture sector. The state government has offered to provide Rs 5,300 crore subsidy, same as in the current year, as against the total revenue shortfall of Rs 14,866 crore in the next financial year, he pointed out.
“For the last 18-20 months, the industry has been receiving only 50 per cent of the total power requirement. Industrial growth is much worse in the state due to the bad handling of the power sector. If the proposed tariff comes into effect, migration of industry as well as industrial sickness will only accelerate,” he said. Over 12,000 units have turned NPAs in December, 2012, due to power cuts and industrial unrest is also on the rise, according to him.
Besides bringing down the industrial tariff in line with the national tariff policy, the government should directly bear any additional financial burden arising out of the agriculture supply instead of passing on to the consumer. It should also alter the existing free power scheme by providing 12-hour supply to agriculture with 6 hours for free and the remaining for a price to bring efficiency and accountability into agriculture consumption, he suggested.
Fapcci also sought a separate discom for the industrial sector to overcome the present mess. “Let the old as well as the APGenco generating units be retained with the existing discoms and all the advantage of cheaper power purchase costs be with them. The new discom should enter fresh PPAs with power producers,”Surana said.
Buy RLNG-based power for only willing consumers
On the government plans to spend Rs 6,008 crore to purchase regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) at the rate of around Rs 10 per unit in the next financial year, Surana said it had to be done only on a back-to-back basis as it was done in the newly-launched Expensive Power scheme. “With 60 per cent premium proposed over the cost of service on the industrial tariff, the end price of RLNG-based power works out at Rs 16 per unit. Buy this power only to supply it to the willing consumers. This cost should not be loaded onto the general pool,” he said.
