No revision in power tariffs for most of Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Gujarat’s electricity regulator on Monday decided against revising tariff rates of four state-owned power distribution companies for 2014-15, bringing relief to millions of consumers in the state.

It, however, allowed Torrent Power a partial increase of 44 paisa per unit for all categories, except farmers and those below the poverty line. The company, which supplies electricity to Surat, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, had sought an increase of Rs 1.22 per unit to bridge its revenue gap of Rs 461 crore. At the new rate, Torrent will collect Rs 450 crore more.

State-owned discoms under the apex body Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd had not sought any major change in tariff structure because it’s an election year.

In its order, the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission ( GERC) observed that the ongoing litigation before the Appellate Tribunal regarding generation tariff of Tata Power’s Mundra-based ultra mega power project and Adani Power’s project may also impact expenditure on power purchase by distribution companies.

“While approving annual revenue requirement, GERC made realistic projections of capitalisation while approving various components of ARR like depreciation, interest and finance charges, return on equity and interest on working capital to avoid front loading of these elements on the retail tariff. However, actual capitatlisation at the time of truing up of respective year shall be taken into consideration by the commission after prudence check,” read a statement by the regulator.

Gujarat’s distribution companies had projected zero growth rate in sales for the high-tension category and marginal sales growth for other consumer categories in their business plan review petition. After hearing the stakeholders, the regulator arrived at a consolidated revenue surplus of Rs 1,413.14 crore for state-owned discoms.