Power utility major CESC Ltd on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 111 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal,almost flat against the net profit of Rs 110 crore posted in the corresponding period last year. The net sales stood at Rs 1,169 crore during the quarter,up by 8 per cent during the year. CESC said its bottomline was under pressure due to sharp rise in fuel cost. The company has already raised tariffs by 46 paise/unit in April and has filed a petition for another tariff hike for the year 2011-12 to to mitigate the 99 per cent increase in coal prices by Coal India Ltd (CIL) in February. Although,the hike amount demanded by the company is not known,it is expected to be more than 34 paise The hike of 34 paise/unit would offset the fuel cost alone. The remaining hiked amount will offset the cost of inflation,operation and maintenance and capital expenditure),CESC sources said. The current average power tariff of Rs 5.17 per unit includes the recent hike of 46 paise The tariff petition is yet to be acknowledged by the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission,however,CESC Vice-Chairman Sanjiv Goenka expects an order in the next one quarter. The new tariff will be implemented retrospectively from April 2011.
