The Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) has hiked power tariff by an average of 5 to 7 percent and the hiked power tariff hike will come into force from October 1, 2023.

The Power Ratan Lal Nath justified the latest 5 to7% hike in power tariff and speaking to media persons Nath said that the state government had no role in this as the question of tariff is decided by the regulatory commission and recently many other states have increased power tariff .  He said that before the latest hike in Tripura the final decision had been taken by the regulatory commission and the government cannot go against this ; there is no other option. He said that power tariff had been increased for the last time in Tripura in the year 2014 and nine years have passed without increase despite the rise in production and other costs.

The TSCEL, once a profit-making government entity, has incurred a total loss of Rs 280 crore during financial years-2021-22 and a loss of Rs 80 crore in the first three months of the current financial year.

The last time TSECL revised the power tariff was in 2014 and at present, Tripura has around 10 lakh consumers.

"After taking into consideration all factors and consultation with Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission (TERC), an average 5-7 percent power tariff has been increased to save the power corporation", said TSECL's managing director, Debasis Sarkar.

He said that the main reason behind the hike was due to the rise in the cost of gas by around 196 percent over the past few years and around 98 percent of power plants in Tripura are gas-based combined cycle.

Earlier, TSECL used to spend Rs 15 crore for procuring gas per month for running gas-based power generation units but now it has risen to Rs 35-40 crore per month. There is no way rather than going for a power tariff hike, said Sarkar.

Sarkar said the Centre has introduced a uniform transmission tariff for the entire country which brings more woes to the small states like Tripura. "Now we are paying Rs 5.6 to Rs 6 crore annually for introducing the uniform transmission tariff. It also adds more burden on TSECL. That's why we wanted a hike in power tariff but this hike will address our 20-25 per cent revenue deficit only", he said.