Strongly condemning what they have termed as indiscriminate power tariff hike, industrialists from across North Karnataka have, under the aegis of Karnatak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), set a seven-day deadline to KERC and the State government to reconsider the power tariff hike.
Addressing presspersons along with office-bearers of various industries associations from North Karnataka, KCCI president Vinay Javali said that after deliberations with member organisations and associations, KCCI has decided to set the seven-day deadline for the government and KERC to reconsider the decision on power tariff.
“It is detrimental to the interests of the industries across the State and it will force many industries to shut down as power bills for the month have increased between 25% and 75%. Already, during COVID-19-induced lockdown, several industries closed downed and now, with this hike, power, which is an important component, production has become costly,” he said.
75% of bill
Mr. Vinay Javali said that as responsible industrialists and businessmen, they will pay 75% of the current power bills to express their protest against the hike and they will wait for the government and KERC to act on their request.
“We will have a symbolic protest and submit memoranda to all the authorities concerned and representatives of the government. We will wait for a week for the authorities concerned to act and if not, we will be forced to take the next course of action in the interest of industrial development,” he said, clarifying that they will not have any objection if the hike is within the norms.
KCCI vice-president Sandeep Bidasaria pointed out the difference effected because of the hike in power tariff and said that in some cases, KERC has allowed a hike which is beyond the demand made by the electricity supply companies.
“As per the old tariff for Category HT-2A, it was 265 per kVA and HESCOM made a demand for making it 290 per kVA. But, as per the new tariff, it is 350 per kVA, more than what HESCOM sought for. Similarly, for Category HT-2B, it was 290 per kVA earlier. HESCOM’s demand was 315 per kVA and now, as per KERC order, it is 375 per kVA, which is again more than HESCOM’s demand. We objected to HESCOM’s demand itself but now the KERC has given more than what was sought for,” he said.
The former KCCI president Shankaranna Munavalli said that, probably, it is for the first time in history that KERC has issued an order awarding more hike than what the ESCOMs sought for. “We strongly condemn it and seek reconsideration,” he said.
Awareness
Mr. Bidasaria said that this change in kVA will affect the common people also and KCCI will conduct awareness programmes for domestic users, as they too will be affected by the steep hike, which was never sought for by the ESCOMs. In the meeting held earlier, representatives of various industries organisations, North Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (NKSSIA) and others took part.
