CHENNAI: Hours after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa stressed the inevitability of a hike in electricity tariff, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO), Rajeev Ranjan, filed a petition seeking a hike in tariff with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) on Thursday.Setting in motion the lengthy process of effecting the hike, the TANGEDCO chief filed the papers by 7.30 pm. The regulatory officials will scrutinise the petition on Friday. If it is complete in all respects, it will be admitted and formally notified. According to sources, the hike is likely to fetch anywhere between `10,000 to `15,000 crore annually to the cash-strapped power utility if the proposal gets the green light. The TANGEDCO has sought an upward revision for all user-categories. However, the users coming under ‘huts category’ can hope for a relief as the proposed hike is ‘very marginal’. The hike sought for low-end domestic users, government hospitals, educational institutions besides cottage and tiny industries segment by the power corporation is ‘comparatively moderate’, the sources added. In Tamil Nadu, there are 7,336 High Tension (HT) users, and 2,12,68,928 Low Tension (LT) users, including the domestic segment of 1,41,94,757 consumers. Broadly, there are 14 user-categories, including domestic, bulk supplies, public lighting, State sector, industries and agriculture with several sub-divisions. The tariff in Tamil Nadu, considered to be the lowest in the country, witnessed the previous hike in domestic, industrial, and commercial categories effective August 1, 2010. The increase came after a gap of over seven years as the earlier hike was on March 16, 2003. Hectic consultations among Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan, State energy secretary Ramesh Kumar Khanna and TANGEDCO chairman Rajeev Ranjan preceded the filing of the tariff petition.
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