Industry bodies and consumers on Tuesday strongly opposed the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation’s proposal for revising the tariff to 68.36 paise per unit for all categories of consumers for dealing with the revenue deficit of ₹475.50 crore it has foreseen for the financial year 2020-21.
The CESC submitted its proposal to the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), which held a hearing at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here to seek the opinion from the general public and various stakeholders such as industries and associations.
KERC Chairman Shambhu Dayal Meena presided over the public hearing. Members M.D. Ravi and H.M. Manjunath were present.
CESC Managing Director H.N. Gopalakrishna made a PowerPoint presentation to the Commission on why the Corporation has sought the hike besides sharing information on its performance, new initiatives and steps taken to minimise T and D losses.
He said the CESC, which has its jurisdiction spread across Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajnagar, Hassan and Kodagu districts, required a revenue of ₹5,183.92 crore and the earnings it was expecting from the consumers was ₹4,708.42 crore, resulting in a deficit of ₹475.50 crore. He, therefore, pleaded before the Commission to approve its proposal for raising the tariff to 68.36 paise, including the fixed costs, to overcome the deficit.
“Last year, the CESC had sought a hike of 99 paise but the Commission revised the tariff by 33 paise. We have sought a moderate hike this year when compared to previous years and other ESCOMs,” a senior CESC official said.
As per the CESC’s estimates, the cost incurred by it for power purchase would be ₹3,611.91 crore, which accounts to 70.95 per cent of expenditure.
KIADB Industrial Area Manufacturers’ Association was the first to raise its objections to the hike. Vice-President K. Ravindra Prabhu described the proposal “anti-industry”, “anti-people” and uncalled-for. He urged the chairman to reject the proposal outright.
He maintained that the CESC had purchased power at an exorbitant rate - ₹11.63 to ₹14.89 per unit. If the hike was approved, it will result in the large-scale closure of small-scale industries (SSIs), which are already in crisis over recession, and job cuts. “The problems faced by CESC were entirely due to mismanagement for which the industries in general and SSIs and the common man in particular should not be victimised,” KIAMA said in a release.
Former MLA and Mysore Industries Association President Vasu also sought dismissal of the tariff hike proposal.
Lakshmikanth of MIA sought cut in tariff by ₹1 since the consumers were already paying more to the CESC. “Let the government bail out the CESC for its losses instead of passing on the burden to the consumers,” he argued.
Activist Shivaprakash also sought cut in tariff and demanded adequate power to farmers.
KASSIA also filed its objections to the KERC and sought rejection of the hike as there is considerable scope for the CESC to reduce its costs and improve efficiency. Also, the KERC was urged to direct the CESC to call for competitive tariff bidding.
The KASSIA, in a note, said, “The CESC was purchasing 405.92 million units of power more than the Commission’s approval, for the use of IP sets and does not go to HT industries. But the industries are made to pay for the energy which is distributed to the IP sets.”
The Karnataka Growers’ Federation, Sakleshpur, also submitted its petition before the Commission.
