The Hindu Business Line : TNEB expects 12 pc rise in expenditure

THE Tamil Nadu Electricity Board anticipates a 12 per cent increase in total cost this year over last year, and a 11 per cent increase in 2003-04 over 2002-03.

In its annual revenue requirement, the TNEB has said that its costs — made up of fuel cost, power purchase, repairs and maintenance, employee cost, administration and general expenses, other debits and extraordinary items, interest and finance charges, and depreciation — are expected to be Rs 12,096.81 crore at the end of this financial year against the Rs 10,741.97 crore it incurred last year. At the end of 2003-04, the electricity board has projected that its costs will account for Rs 13,526.31 crore.

The TNEB has filed its petition seeking tariff revision and a statement of its annual revenue requirement before the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission, the first such petition after the commission was made fully functional in June last. The commission has called for objections to the tariff revision sought for after which it may decide on holding public hearings before deciding on the petition.

According to the summary of the annual revenue requirement and the net revenue requirement, publicised by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission on Tuesday, the TNEB's fuel cost is expected to go up from Rs 2,784.47 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 3,041.46 crore this year and to Rs 3,286.24 crore the next year.

The cost of power purchase is expected to go up from Rs 4,946.24 crore last year to Rs 5,626.19 crore this year and to Rs 6,557.46 crore in 2003-04. (It must be mentioned that another independent power project, the 250 MW lignite-based ST-CMS project at Neyveli, is scheduled to begin generating power by the end of this month. This will be the fifth private project to go on stream, and four other IPPs with a total capacity of about 740 MW are feeding power into the TNEB's grid.)

The TNEB's interest and finance charges are expected to go up to Rs 865.59 crore this year, from the Rs 650.30 crore it incurred last year.

In 2003-04, the interest and finance charges are anticipated to be Rs 922.80 crore.

The total cost including the three per cent return on net fixed assets is expected to be Rs 12,318.30 crore this year against Rs 10944.76 crore last year.

In 2003-04, this is expected to be Rs 13,764.49 crore.

The net revenue requirement is projected at Rs 11,848.30 crore this year and Rs 13,287.89 crore in 2003-04. The revenue through the existing tariff will be Rs 9509 crore this year and Rs 10544.80 crore in 2003-04.

Without a tariff revision, the deficit for this year will be Rs 2339.30 crore and Rs 2743.09 crore next year.

The additional revenue from the proposed tariff revision, which the TNEB has sought with effect from December 1, 2002, will be Rs 624.69 crore for this year and Rs 2110.03 crore in 2003-04.

The deficit at the end of this financial year is expected to be Rs 1714.61 crore while it is expected to come down to Rs 633.06 crore next year.

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