South India: Telangana Govt Defers Fixed Electricity Charges During Lockdown Period

The Telangana government has today announced deferring of Fixed Charges on electricity bills for industries during the lockdown period till 31st May'20, market participants reported to SteelMint. This has been done to relieve the industrys' financial burden in view of the current lockdown.

In addition to this, a rebate of 1% has also been announced, if the payment is made within the due date till 31st May'20. Furthermore, bill will be made on actual power consumption, as cited in the notification.

There are about 110 steel mills based in major markets of Telangana (including furnaces, rolling mills, sponge iron & ferro industries)*. Since the lockdown was announced in India, the mills have suspended their operations.

The average installed capacity of Ingot/billet in Telangana is assessed 5,000 MT per day & the charges of industrial electricity is reported at INR 6.20-6.30/unit, which varies according to the load/power consumption.

Prior to this, the Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP, Punjab, Ludhiana, MP & Rajasthan govts have announced this type of relief to save industries in this tough situation. In Chhattisgarh, Raipur based steel mills have also requested the government to remove fixed electricity charges & minimum demand charges, however the authority is yet to take a decision on the matter.

*Correction