Kiran Scales Down Power Tariff Hike

Fearing severe backlash from the people during the election year and with the pressure mounting from the opposition parties, the Kiran Kumar Reddy government on Saturday refrained from going in for abnormal power tariff increase and scaled down the hike substantially.
As against the proposed increase of power tariff by Rs 12,500 crore, the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission approved a hike of Rs 6,173 crore, an increase of 21 per cent over the existing tariff. Originally, the government proposed to increase the tariff by 45-50 per cent. The average increase in domestic power tariff is 0.58 paise per unit and for industrial consumer, there is an increase of Rs 1.12 paise per unit.
The APERC also turned down the proposal of distribution companies for implementation of non-telescopic system, which would have increased power tariff by 100-120 per cent. Instead, it has increased the number of slabs from existing 6 to 10, thereby giving some relief to the low power consuming households. There is no increase in tariff for consumers up to first 50 units.
Yet, the power tariff hike will have a substantial pinch on the pockets of consumers; and there would be indirect burden on them in the name of fuel surcharge adjustment.