In sharp words for the State’s Electricity Supply Companies (Escoms), the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) asked them to buck up and run like businesses, rather than government entities.
Announcing the new electricity tariffs for the financial year on Monday, KERC member and acting chairman H.M. Manjunatha said: “The Escoms should think of themselves as industries, not as government entities. They are not taking business seriously. If privatisation plans take shape, they will face the music. They need to be serious about business”.
This came amidst questions from reporters on the almost constant and significant annual hikes in tariffs. Defending the average 35 paise per unit hike, the commission said it was “necessitated” to recover a revenue deficit of ₹2,159.48 crore, which includes ₹ 1,700.49 crore deficit of the just concluded financial year.
