Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh hike Industrial Tariffs
The retail tariff order for FY 2013-14, rolled out by Hon’able APERC, has brought a major setback for the industries of the state. The hike in tariff was quite significant as it implies that industries dependent on grid power will receive inflated power bills. Evidently, this steep hike has also attracted much of agitation in the form of protests from various organizations.
The tariffs have been hiked for all categories, low tension domestic, commercial and high tension industrial consumers. Industries connected to 33 kV HT line will now be paying 21.2 % more i.e. Rs. 5.30 per unit as compared to Rs. 4.37 per unit for previous fiscal (FY 2012-13). The upward movement of tariff can be seen in the table below:
Though the retail tariff order may seem outrageous to many, in our opinion it is going to be a big push for solar captives in the state, based on the fact that it would just improve the economics as far as having an in-house solar captive power plant is concerned. An attractive solar policy with many incentives on offer in the state of Andhra Pradesh also backs up this assertion to a greater extent.
MPERC also increased tariff for industrial consumers by 3.9 % which though is not as steep as that mandated by APERC, but just goes to show how various states device methods to rescue their cash-strapped DISCOMs.
Relevant media coverage on the issue can be found in the following links –