After four and half months of his government coming to power, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is getting ready to put Rs 6,072 crore of burden on the people by increasing electric charges, in the name of adjustment charges.
Having come to power promising people there will be no hike in power charges and blaming the previous regime for enhancing power tariff several times, ironically now he is following the same trend.
However, blaming YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime irregularities for putting additional burden on the people. The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Council (APERC) on Friday gave permission to the discoms to collect another Rs.6,072.86 crore from the people who are already suffering from adjustment charges.
This amount can be collected in electricity bills from next November under fuel adjustment charges for the year 2022-23 in 15 monthly installments. In fact, the discoms had once requested to collect Rs.8,114 crores for that year, but the commission did not respond.
After a delay of two years, ironically the APERC suddenly conducted a public hearing on the 18th of this month. In a virtual meeting on that day, the experts of the electricity sector protested the delay of two years. The commission replied that it did not take a decision on fuel adjustment immediately as it was in the process of resolving the cases.
However, experts have expressed concern that due to the manner of APERC, an unbearable burden is falling on the consumers at the same time. They reminded that discoms have sent separate proposals for collection of another Rs.11,826.42 crore for the year 2023-24. They said that if that is also added, people will be shocked to see the electricity bills.
The commission has given permission to collect Rs.6,072.86 crore after the public hearing. EPDCL, CPDCL and SPDCL will collect this amount for 15 months at the rate of Rs.1.21 per unit. During Jagan’s regime, the power generation in AP Genco plants was reduced and electricity was purchased at high prices in the open market.
Moreover, there was no transparency in these purchases either. Company wise the unit price is hidden without disclosing how much they are buying. The websites of the power companies were also made dummy. Coal purchase was also kept highly secretive.
