The Andhra Pradesh United Citizens’ Forum has demanded immediate withdrawal of steep hike in the power tariff in the State and rescinding of the decision to impose TrueUp charges.
The State government adopted the ostrich policy during the peak of the pandemic and did not intervene in the functioning of the A P. Electricity Regulatory Commission(APERC).
“We oppose the tariff hike and the government’s decision to impose the TrueUp charges to make up for the losses suffered by the distribution companies. There should be a consumer-friendly policy,” the forum’s general secretary A.G. Rajmohan said while submitting a memorandum to Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited(APSPDCL) Superintending Engineer Nagaraju on Tuesday.
In the memorandum addressed to the Chairman APERC, the forum said it was nothing but the privatisation of the power sector and succumbing to the dictates of private players.
The proposed power reforms are responsible for all the shortcomings in the functioning of the SPDCL, and ultimately the consumers are being penalised, the forum member added. The forum will take up a variety of programmes from the first week of September to sensitise the public.
They also submitted a memorandum to the Municipal Commissioner seeking withdrawal of user charges for garbage collection and halting collection of hike property tax.
