ANDHRA PRADESH ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Hyderabad

 

Present

Sri K. Swaminathan, Chairman

Sri K Sreerama Murthy, Member

Sri Surinder Pal, Member


Dated:  22-03-2005

 

O.P. No.   05 of  2005

 

Anakapalli Rural Electric Co-operative Society Limited            …….     Applicant

 

The Commission having considered the ARR/ERC filings, the additional information and documents made available by the applicant (hereinafter referred to as the “RESCO”) and having stood over for consideration till this day passed the following:

 

ORDER

 

1.       The Anakapalli Rural Electric Co-operative Society Limited has been exempted from the requirement of obtaining a Distribution and Retail Supply Licence for the supply area specified in the Licence granted to it earlier under AP Electricity Reform Act, 1998 for one year, from 10-06-2004 to 09-06-2005 as per the orders of the Commission dated 15-06-2004.  As per terms and conditions contained in the said exemption order, the RESCO is required to file its Aggregate Revenue Requirement / Expected Revenue from Charges (ARR / ERC) for the ensuing year by 30th November of each year.

 

2.       The RESCO filed its ARR/ERC for the year 2005-06 on 29th November 2004. The ARR/ERC filings by the RESCO were found to be deficient in certain aspects and therefore, clarifications were sought from it. The staff of the Commission was asked to discuss with the officials of RESCO on 16-02-2005 on various issues related to the ARR / ERC calculations of the RESCO. The clarifications made and further details furnished by the RESCO were placed before the Commission.  

 

3.       The Commission analyzed the RESCO’s filings and the representations made to the Commission in the filings, and considered the additional information submitted and clarifications provided by the RESCO. The Commission’s decisions thereon are detailed herein.

 

4.                 REVENUE REQUIREMENT

 

(a)      CAPITAL BASE

 

 

(i)      Original Cost of Fixed Assets (OCFA) and Capital Works – in - progress (CWIP):

 

The RESCO has projected Rs.2,825.49 lakhs under OCFA and                Rs. 214.78 lakhs under CWIP in the ARR / ERC filings for the year 2005-06. Based on the audited accounts for the year 2003-04 and the approved ARR for FY 2004-05 and projections for the ensuing year submitted by the RESCO, the OCFA is arrived at Rs.2,750.49 lakhs, after adjustment of consumer contributions and grants from other sources received by the RESCO.

 

(ii)     Working Capital:

(a)  Average Cost of Stores

(b)  Average Cash and Bank Balances

 

The RESCO has projected Rs. 2.50 lakhs towards average cost of stores and Rs. 32.00 lakhs towards average cash and bank balance.  The Commission admits Rs.2.67 lakhs towards average cost of stores representing one month’s average repairs and maintenance expenses and Rs.32.86 lakhs towards average cash and bank balance representing one month’s all other expenses excluding power purchase cost. 

 

(iii)    Accumulated Depreciation:

 

The figure projected by the RESCO (Rs. 1,234.82 lakhs) in the filing has been accepted without change, based on the latest audited accounts for the year 2003-04 and the projections for the current year and the ensuing year.

 

(iv)    Other items:

 

The projections by the RESCO towards Consumer Security Deposits (Rs.75.35 lakhs) and Development / Tariff & Dividend Reserve (Rs.85.60 lakhs) have been allowed as per its filing.  Interest on consumer security deposits (Rs.18.41 lakhs) has not, however, been considered on the negative side of capital base.  The RESCO has pre-closed its loans from REC and loans from Public Enterprises Department, Govt. of A.P.   

 

(v)     Summary of Capital Base:

 

With the above changes, the Net Capital Base of Rs. 1,660.59 lakhs projected by the RESCO comes down to Rs. 1605.03 lakhs as per the details given in the following table:

 

Table- 1

Statement of Capital Base

                                                                   (Rs. in Lakhs)

Sl. No.

Positive elements

RESCO

APERC

1

Original Cost of Fixed Assets

2825.49

2750.49

2

Capital Works in Progress

214.78

214.78

3

Working Capital

 

 

 

a) Average Cost of Stores

2.50

2.67

 

b) Avg Cash and Bank balance

32.00

32.86

A

Total of positive elements of Capital Base

3074.77

3000.80

 

Negative Elements

 

 

1

Accumulated Depreciation

1234.82

1234.82

2

Approved Loans

0.00

0.00

3

Consumer Security Deposit

75.35

75.35

4

Interest on consumer security deposits

18.41

0.00

5

Development/Tariff & Dividend Reserve

85.60

85.60

B

Total of negative elements of Capital Base

1414.18

1395.77

 

Net Capital Base (A-B)

1660.59

1605.03

 

 

 

(b)     Expenditure Items

 

(i)      Wages and Salaries:

 

The RESCO made a projection of Rs.265.00 lakhs. Based on the additional information furnished, an amount of Rs.262.00 lakhs is approved by the Commission under this Head.

 

(ii)     Administration and General Expenses and Repairs and Maintenance :

 

The RESCO made projections of Rs.45.00 lakhs and Rs. 40.00 lakhs under these heads which are reduced to Rs.38.00 lakhs and Rs.32.00 lakhs respectively based on the audited accounts for the year 2003-04 and approved ARR for FY 2004-05.

 

(iii)           Other expenditure items :

The projections of the RESCO under Rent, Rates & Taxes (Rs. 2.50 lakhs), legal charges (Rs. 1.00 lakh) and Auditors' Fees (Rs. 4.50 lakhs) have been allowed without any change based on past trend. Depreciation (Rs.154.00 lakhs), Contribution to Employee funds (Rs.40.00 lakhs), Contribution to Contingencies Reserve (Rs. 5.00 lakhs), Interest on Security Deposits           (Rs. 2.10 lakhs) and other expenses (Rs.30.00 lakhs) have been adjusted to the actual calculated figures of Rs.154.38 lakhs, Rs.36.00 lakhs, Rs.6.88 lakhs, Rs.4.52 lakhs and Rs.19.30 lakhs respectively based on prescribed norms.

 

(iv)    Total expenditure:

 

Based on the above changes, the total expenditure (exclusive of expenditure on power purchase) works out to Rs. 561.08 lakhs as against the RESCO's projection of Rs. 589.10 lakhs as detailed below:

 

Table – 2

Statement of Expenditure

                                                                   Rs. in Lakhs

Sl. No.

Particulars

RESCO

APERC

1

Wages and Salaries

265.00

262.00

2

Admn & General Expenses

45.00

38.00

3

Repairs and Maintenance

40.00

32.00

4

Rent, Rates & Taxes

2.50

2.50

5

Approved Loan Interest

0.00

0.00

6

Depreciation

154.00

154.38

7

Contbn. to Employee Funds

40.00

36.00

8

Contbn. to Contingency Reserve

5.00

6.88

9

Interest on Security Deposit

2.10

4.52

10

Legal Charges

1.00

1.00

11

Auditors' Fees

4.50

4.50

12

Other Expenses

30.00

19.30

13

Total Expenditure

(excluding purchase of energy)

589.10

561.08

 

(c)      Reasonable Return:

 

Based on the above changes to the Capital Base (accepted by the RESCO), the reasonable return woks out to Rs.256.80 lakhs as against Rs.266.12 lakhs projected by it.

 

(d)     Non-tariff Income:

 

The RESCO has projected an amount of Rs. 201.20 lakhs (including customer charges) under this head and the Commission has accepted the same.

 

(e)     The Revenue Requirement for the FY 2005-06

(Excluding power purchase cost)

 

The Aggregate Revenue Requirement (excluding power purchase cost) works out to   Rs. 616.68 lakhs as against Rs. 654.02 lakhs projected by the RESCO. This is after taking into account the Reasonable Return of Rs. 256.80 lakhs and Non-Tariff income of Rs.201.20 lakhs.

 

(f)      Efficiency Gains:

           The RESCO has not projected any efficiency gains for FY 2005-06.  The Commission desires that the RESCO should improve its efficiency to reduce losses and collect all the outstanding arrears towards sale of energy.  The Commission has fixed Rs.20.00 lakhs towards the efficiency gains, considering its total power demand of 90 MU and efficiency already achieved during the last five years. Thus, the net aggregate revenue requirement works out to Rs.596.68 lakhs. 

 

 

(g)      Expected revenue from charges:

 

The RESCO has filed the Expected Revenue from Charges at Rs.1187.21 lakhs (excluding customer charges) based on current Tariff Rates effective from 01-04-2004 except for agricultural category, where the revenue has been revised by the RESCO as per new modified Agricultural policy of Government of Andhra Pradesh.  This is adopted for the calculation of amount available with the RESCO for power purchases.  Category-wise sales and revenue projected by the RESCO and as approved by the Commission are given in the table below:

Table – 3

Category -wise Sales and Revenue

 

Sl.

 

RESCO

APERC

No.

CATEGORY

Sales

Revenue

Sales

Revenue

 

 

MU

Rs. Lakhs

MU

Rs. Lakhs

1

LT I - Domestic

32.33

595.66

32.33

595.66

2

LT II - Non-Domestic

3.36

180.82

3.36

180.82

3

LT III - Industrial

7.30

338.68

7.30

338.68

4

LT IV - Cottage Industries

0.03

0.61

0.03

0.61

5

LT V - Irrigation and Agriculture

28.75

8.86

28.75

8.86

6

LT VI - Local Bodies, Street Lighting

2.14

36.14

2.14

36.14

7

LT VI B - PWS schemes

1.57

5.30

1.57

5.30

8

LT VII - General Purpose

0.43

17.17

0.43

17.17

9

LT VIII - Temporary Supply

0.06

3.97

0.06

3.97

 

 Total

75.97

1187.21

75.97

1187.21

 

 

 

(h)     Amount available with the RESCO for power purchases

The amount available with the RESCO for power purchases has been computed at Rs. 590.53 lakhs as against Rs.533.19 lakhs computed by the RESCO.  The details of calculation are given in the following table :

 

 

 

Table – 4

Amount available with RESCO for power purchases

                                                                                    Rs. in Lakhs

Sl. No.

Particulars

RESCO

APERC

1

Expenditure

589.10

561.08

2

Reasonable Return

266.12

256.80

3

Less:  Non-Tariff income

201.20

201.20

4

Revenue Requirement (1+2-3)

654.02

616.68

5

Less:  Efficiency Gains

0.00

20.00

6

Net Revenue Requirement (4 - 5)

654.02

596.68

7

Revenue from sale of Power

1187.21

1187.21

8

Amount available for Power Purchase (7-6)

533.19

590.53

 

 

 

 

 

Units to be purchased (in MU)

90.00

90.00

 

Power purchase price : Re/Unit

0.59

0.66

 
5.       Quantum of power purchases by RESCO

 

The RESCO projected purchase of 90 MU (gross) during 2005-06. The Commission accepts the projection made by the RESCO. 

 

6.       Power purchase price

 

Based on the above (90.00 MU purchases), the power purchase price for the RESCO works out to 66 paise per unit of energy supplied by the APEPDCL for      FY 2005-06. However, for any additional purchase over and above the limit specified in paragraph 5 above, the RESCO has to pay at the power purchase rate for excess drawals by APEPDCL or at the Bulk Supply Tariff (BST) applicable to APEPDCL if the additional purchase by the RESCO does not result in excess drawal by the DISCOM, as the case may be.  The RESCO shall follow all the guidelines / regulations applicable to Licensees for power purchases.

 

7.      Tariffs

The RESCO shall charge Tariffs as per the Tariff Order for 2005-2006, dated: 22-3-2005, which is issued separately under O.P. Nos. 30 to 34 of 2004.  The RESCO shall also comply with all Directives contained in that Tariff Order insofar as these are applicable to it.

 

 

8.          Compliance with Commission’s Directives

The Commission reviewed the status of compliance to its directives issued to the RESCO in its orders on ARR / ERC for the FY 2000-01, FY 2001-02, FY 2002-03 and FY 2004-05.  Annexure - A shows a summary of the status of compliance to the directives as reported by the RESCO.  As can be seen therefrom, many of the directives are ongoing in nature, and it was observed that the RESCO is generally seeking to comply with the directives.

 

The Commission directs that the RESCO shall continue to comply with such ongoing directives issued to the RESCO in the ARR orders of the Commission for FY 2000-01, FY 2001-02 and FY 2002-03 and further directs that RESCO should devise a special action plan and make concerted efforts on the important issues cited below and file reports on status of compliance thereto at the end of every quarter during FY 2005-06:

 

(i)                The RESCO shall fix meters to all services including new agricultural consumers by the end of FY 2005-06 (directed in part vide paragraph 7 of list of Commission’s directives in ARR orders for FY 2000-01 and FY 2001-02) and file quarterly status reports on metering.  RESCO shall also file a metering plan to fix meters to all agricultural consumers by 30th June, 2005.

(ii)             The RESCO shall build the sales database for the entire RESCO as directed in paragraph 4.7.1 of the Commission’s Order on the RESCO’s ARR/ERC filings for FY 2002-03.

(iii)           In continuation to Commission’s directives on collection of arrears in the Commission’s Order on the RESCO’s ARR/ERC filings for FY 2000-01 and FY 2001-02, the Commission directs that the RESCO shall collect 100% of outstanding dues, as at 31-03-2005, from consumers.  

(iv)           The RESCO shall collect 100% current consumption charges and effect immediate disconnection for consumers with pending dues (including arrears) of more than two months’ current billing amount.

(v)              The RESCO shall regularly pay the full amount due to EPDCL for power purchase at the rate fixed by the Commission, failing which the EPDCL shall stop power supply to the RESCO immediately.

(vi)           The RESCO shall limit agricultural consumption to 28.75 MU inFY 2005-06.

(vii)         The prevailing loss level for calculation of power purchase has been taken at 15.59%.  The RESCO shall put in its best efforts to bring down the losses to 15.00% by the end of FY 2005-06.

(viii)      The RESCO shall bring down Transformer failure to 7 % per annum by the end of FY 2005-06.

(ix)            The RESCO shall identify and disconnect multiple connections (in Domestic and Commercial categories) to the same premises (meant for the same family / organization).

(x)              The RESCO shall conduct energy audit in all Mandal headquarters in its licensed area and file quarterly reports, also indicating therein the progress made month-wise.

 

9.       The Commission does not consider the RESCO’s expenditure / revenue calculations as filed to be in accordance with the requirement.  The Commission has instead proposed alternative calculations for the ARR / ERC and the rates for power purchases from APEPDCL which the RESCO shall accept and implement as contained in this order.

 

This order is signed on this 22nd March, 2005.

 

 

 

Sd/-

SURINDER PAL

MEMBER

Sd/-

K. SREERAMA MURTHY

MEMBER

Sd/-

K. SWAMINATHAN

CHAIRMAN

 

       

CERTIFIED COPY


ANNEXURE – A

COMPLIANCE TO DIRECTIVES ISSUED IN APERC ORDERS ON

ARR / ERC FILED BY THE RESCO FOR FY 2001-02, 2002-03 & 2003-04

 

Sl. No

APERC DIRECTIVE

ACHIEVEMENT REPORTED BY RESCO

FY 2004-05       

1

The RESCO shall report to the Commission all Schemes in Compliance to paras 10.2 and 10.3 of the Licence irrespective of whether the cost is less than Rs. 5 Lakh or more.

i)For FY 2004-05 : By end of September 2004

ii)For FY 2005-06 : By end of June 2005

 

 

 

 

Submitted

Not submitted

2

Interest on Consumer Security Deposit to be passed on to the Consumer.

Calculated but not yet paid.

3

Agricultural Consumption to be regulated and limited to the approved 27 MU for the          FY 2004-05

Agricultural Consumption 14 MU upto September’04 may exceed the limit of 27 MU for FY 2004-05.                                   

4

The RESCO shall bring down losses to 14 % by the end of March 2005.

Losses are currently at 16% as against the directed 14%.  The RESCO has requested for upward revision of loss target to 15.59% in  FY 2005-06 due to LT operation only.

5

Transformer failure should be contained within

7 % during the year 2004-05.

Transformer failure is 3.48 % up to September’04 as against the directed 7 %.

6

The RESCO is to redouble its efforts for                        collection of arrears from consumers. Current Demand to be accounted separately.

Amount pending for collection : Rs. 215.68 lakhs as on 30.09.2004                        

 

7

The RESCO shall release all fresh connections

with meters  to all categories of consumers.

No services existing without meter except agricultural consumers.

8

If not already done, the RESCO shall fix 10 sample meters to agricultural consumers in each Mandal and send monthly readings by 8th of the succeeding month.

Meters already installed. Readings for agricultural consumption not submitted

 

9

The RESCO should explain to the Agricultural consumers about the advantage of metered billing and undertaking DSM measures.

No information available for FY 2004-05. 

10

The RESCO shall file with the Commission the status of closure of work orders every month by 8th of the succeeding month.

554 Nos. work orders closed costing Rs.211.48  lakhs as at 30-09-2004

11

The position of pending payments to APTRANSCO / DISCOMS towards power purchased by the RESCO during 2004-05 shall be reported to the Commission by 8th Sept'04.

The disputed amount is pending for payment to DISCOM as on 30-09-2004.  The RESCO pays regularly without default.

       

12

Disconnection of unauthorized services

There are no unauthorized services

13

Metering of agricultural services

2310 agricultural services metered by Dec’03

14

Audit of receivables

Submitted

15

Information on new investment

Complied

16

Sales Data Base

Complied

17

Addition of new consumers

No. of consumers increased from 87,820 as at   31-03-2004 to 89,655 Nos. as at 30-09-2004

18

Collection as a percentage of current billing

88.12 % as at 30-09-2004

 

19

Purchase of energy and rate at which paid

42.23 MU as at 30-09-2004 and the RESCO paid @ 85 paise per unit fixed by APERC.

20

Status of loan repayment to REC and others   as at 30-09-2004

Principal dues not paid  : Nil

No of instalments due   :  Nil

Interest   dues not paid  :  Nil

No of instalments due   :  Nil

The RESCO has pre-closed the loan from REC and Government of Andhra Pradesh.

21

Auditing of accounts and submission of Audit Reports

Audit for FY 2004 completed. Audit Report submitted.