ACD charges as per TSERC norms, says TSNPDCL CMD

A Gopal Rao clarified that the company was collecting Advance Consumption Demand (ACD) charges as per the guidelines of TSERC

Hyderabad: Telangana State Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSNPDCL) Chairman and Managing Director A Gopal Rao on Tuesday clarified that the company was collecting Advance Consumption Demand (ACD) charges as per the guidelines of the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC). Further interest would be calculated on the ACD as per RBI guidelines annually and the same would be adjusted in the consumer’s bill, he said.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the CMD said a few people with ulterior motives were trying to mislead people with regard to ACD charges. He also clarified that there was no plan to increase power tariff as was being reported in certain sections of media.

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The company has been charging ACD, a refundable security charge, from customers by asking them to pay an amount equal to their electricity bill for two months, which is calculated after taking out the monthly average of their consumption for a year, he said and added that the ACD was being collected for providing better services to consumers.

There were over 7 lakh consumers who failed to pay their bills and accordingly the power supply was disconnected. Such consumers owe about Rs 305 crore and this was casting an impact on the bills to be paid by NPDCL to power generation companies. To avoid such losses and as per the TSERC guideliness, additional ACD was being collected and notices were issued in January, he said.