Power consumers from across the districts coming under the jurisdiction of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) have voiced their opposition to the proposed power tariff hike and called for its freeze in view of the pandemic.
The CESC has sought a tariff hike of ₹2.27 per unit across all categories on the grounds that the revenue gap after considering the expenses and revenue for the financial year 2022-23, was projected to be ₹1,543.46 crore.
At a public hearing conducted here on Thursday by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) the stakeholders representing industries, general consumers and farmers were unanimous in their view that the tariff hike was unwarranted. They suggested that instead the CESC should be directed to recover arrears pending from various government departments to overcome its financial deficit besides improving its efficiency. KERC members H.M. Manjunath and M.D. Ravi conducted the hearing. .Jaivibhava Swamy, MD, CESC, made a presentation on projected expenditure and revenue gap besides highlighting various projects of CESC.
The Karnataka Small-Scale Industries Association (KAASIA) which has about 11,000 members representing industries and commerce sector, called for an outright rejection of the proposal. It submitted before the KERC panel that the CESC was passing on the costs incurred due to its inefficiency, on the consumers.
It questioned the CESC as to why no efforts are being made to bring down the Transmission and Distribution losses and urged the KERC to seek an explanation from the CESC.
The stakeholders from the industrial sector also opposed the power tariff hike and said that certain energy-intensive units like foundries, forging shops, heat treatment shops, blow-moulding units and steel mills in Karnataka were on the verge of closure due to steep hike in power tariff. Hence, they argued for a downward revision in the tariff.
Drawing attention to the financial load being borne by the industries due to the government’s policy of cross-subsidisation the KASSIA said the average cost of power supply was ₹8.17 per unit but the IP sets were being charged only ₹3.90 per unit and the difference was being recovered from other consumers.
The MSME Council said the CESC should claim the cross-subsidy amount from the government and not pass it on to consumers. .Suresh Kumar Jain, Secretary of MSME Council, said almost 30 per cent of MSMEs in the district have shut down due to the pandemic and power tariff hike would increase the burden and force the closure of many more units. If industries that generate jobs face closure it will add to unemployment and other social problems, he added.
He said the local bodies including gram panchayats owed ₹362 crore to CESC which was also paying interest on loans at an exorbitant rate and passing it on to consumers. He said the KERC should reject the plea for power tariff hike.
