Members of the Communist Party of India and CPI (Marxist) Kurnool and Anantapur district units held demonstrations against the burden imposed on power consumers and demanded new bills be generated based on old slabs.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kurnool district Secretary Kommireddy Prabhakar Reddy and Communist Party of India former MLA M. Abdul Gafoor, participating in the dharna, alleged that power bills had been inflated and due to clubbing of the bills for two months, the slabs had increased leading to higher tariff.
Displaying some of the bills, Mr. Prabhakar Reddy alleged that these consumers were getting ₹600 to ₹700 a month, but this time they had got ₹3,000 or more .
When contacted, Kurnool APSPDCL Superintendent Engineer Bhargava Ramudu said that the tariff had increase only for those who had consumed above 500 units a month and in the highest category it had gone up by 90 paise from ₹9 to ₹9.90, while in all other slabs, the increase was very minimal and does not lead to substantial increase in the bill amount.
“We had last taken reading by March 12, hence the current bill for many was a combined bill for two months and they were perceiving it as though it was for a month. The total power consumption has been divided pro rata for two months and charges calculated on monthly slabs basis. People should not compare their consumption with their February bill, but their April, May 2019 bills for a comparison,” said the SE.
Demonstrations were also held in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam, where left parties opposed the power reforms announced by the Centre ultimately leading to privatisation and encroaching upon the rights of the States.
