The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) has announced that open access consumers will have to pay an additional surcharge of 39 paise per unit for the period between April 1 and September 30, 2023. This decision comes in contrast to the proposal made by the two power distribution companies, SPDCL and NPDCL, who had suggested a much higher rate of Rs 9.86 per unit. The additional surcharge will primarily affect heavy power users, such as industries, who purchase power from third parties or power exchanges using the Discom’s network.
The State-owned Discoms typically charge an additional surcharge for power purchased through open access by high-tension consumers, mostly industries. As part of this process, the Discoms had submitted proposals to ERC to collect Rs 210.20 crore in net charges. However, the commission has given flexibility to collect only Rs 8.29 crore to the Discoms. The Discoms had also proposed to collect Rs 354.68 crore from open access customers in the form of transmission and distribution charges, while the ERC has allowed only Rs 172.05 crore.
The Discoms had planned to collect significant amounts of money from companies and industries that buy electricity at a low price in the open market through wheeling charges and surcharges in 2023-24. However, the TSERC’s decision has put a stop to these plans. The Discoms had proposed to collect Rs 9.86 per kilowatt hour as additional charges from industrial companies buying electricity from open access.
Representatives of several companies had requested ERC during a public hearing last month not to levy additional surcharge on consumers who purchase electricity in the open market under the open access system. Open access consumers had objected to the proposed additional surcharge of Rs.9.86 per unit as it was much higher than the average cost of supply of Rs 7.06 per unit and wanted it to be reduced. They questioned the rationale behind imposing additional surcharge on them when the Electricity Act permits them to purchase power from the open market.
According to Energy department officials, Discoms impose cross-subsidy surcharge (CSS) and additional surcharge (AS) on open access consumers to cross subsidize their loss over losing a consumer to another supplier.
