Be ready to suffer more pocket pinch as your electricity bills are likely to go up.
The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) might consider hiking power tariffs owing to high fuel costs, its chairman Sanjiv Goenka said on Friday.
“Input prices have been increasing. We have issues with costs, which are beyond our control, and at some point in time those will get reflected in power tariffs,” Goenka said at CESC's 44th annual general meeting held virtually.
In the annual report of CESC for 2021-22, Goenka had described the cost of fuel as a short-to-medium-term constraint. “It is vital that power producers and distributors are able to expeditiously pass on purely the element of higher fuel costs through tariffs,” he had noted.
Apart from the rising fuel costs, power utility companies are also battling with the current coal crisis.
Goenka said CESC was one of the few companies that could manage the coal crisis without many glitches.
The Centre has allowed coal imports for up to 10 per cent blending purposes and CESC will go ahead with its plans as per the government order, he added.
Goenka also said the company expected to see pre-Covid-level growth during the current financial year. “Though the company is still not back to the pre-Covid levels in terms of growth as on March 31, 2022, but this year, hopefully, we should be there.”
CESC has recently bagged its sixth distribution licence in Chandigarh. The licence will stay valid for 25 years.
Apart from Kolkata, CESC has distribution interests in Bharatpur, Bikaner, Greater Noida, Kota and Malegaon.