Budget 2016: APP says cess to increase tariff

The Association of Power Producers (APP) has said the increase in Clean Environment Cess announced by the government would have an adverse impact on power tariffs and could lead to an increase of 1213 paise a unit. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the rate of Clean Environment Cess is to be increased to Rs.400 per tonne. ´Looking at the objective, though, no one can have any quarrel with it,´ APP said. It added that the fund collected would go a long way to help companies comply with emission norms for coal-fuelled plants. The industry is likely to spend Rs.2 lakh crore to comply with emission norms for coal-based plants that were notified recently. ´Funds from the cess could be used for opening a concessional window of financing for meeting the new norms,´ APP said.