Industrial consumers flay Tangedco CMD blaming them for financial stress

“It is unfortunate that the chairman implied that the present difficulties of Tangedco are entirely due to ‘legacy concessions’. They were industry’s contractual rights. Wind power banking was offered by the State government and TNEB to promote wind power installation. Wind power has helped Tangedco overcome power shortages in many years,” TECA president SR Rabindar said in a statement.

At a CII meeting here on October 22, Kapur had said that Tangedco continues to be in deep financial stress despite several efficiency improvement measures, adding that it was time to revisit the concessions the industry has been enjoying for long.

Questioning Kapur’s statement that open access was a “legacy concession”, the association president pointed out that it was a statutory right of the consumers conferred by the Electricity Act, 2003, nearly 10 years ago. “How is this a concession? The Electricity Act intends to provide a choice to the consumers for the source of their supply. Group captive system has been put in place by the provisions of Electricity Act and TNERC regulations. How is this a concession?”

Dismissing Tangedco’s claim that these three legacy concessions were causing heavy financial burden, Rabindar said that the users of all these three concessions have been paying to Tangedco the charges determined by TNERC, fully reimbursing the costs incurred and claimed by the utility for permitting these arrangements.

“The industrial and commercial consumers have adopted these three arrangements to ensure that they have reliable, continuous and competitively priced sources of power. As a matter of fact, they continue to get most of their power requirements from Tangedco and only supplement it from these sources,” he said.

Extending their support to make the utility financially viable, he said Tangedco could become a profitable discom if the State government took correct measures.