BHUBANESWAR: Samajwadi Party state committee and other organisations have opposed the draft OERC (Terms and Conditions for Determination of Wheeling Tariff and Retail Supply Tariff) Regulations, 2022. They alleged that this proposed regulation would exploit common consumers.
Wheeling tariff means the fees paid to transport electricity from a power plant to end customers. Retail supply tariff is charged by the distribution licensee for supply of electricity to its consumers other than open access consumers.
The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has framed the draft and published it for information of the general public under the Electricity Act, 2003. Before finalisation of the regulation, the Commission had invited opinion through this publication.
Interested persons, institutions, associations, generating companies, licensees and other stakeholders have submitted their suggestions or opinions on the regulation to the OERC. Monday was the last day for filing the suggestion or opinion.
“On receipt of the responses from different quarters, the Commission may, in appropriate cases, bring the modifications, if any, to the proposed regulations and approve the same for publication in the official gazette,” said the OERC notification.
Samajwadi Party state president Rabi Behera said they have opposed the OERC draft because consumers will suffer in future if the draft becomes regulations. “The Commission should go for a third party audit of the annual income, expenditure and balance sheet of the power companies before determining wheeling tariff and retail supply tariff,” he added.
He said the draft proposal and written submission by various stakeholders on the matter should be heard physically by the Commission before determining the tariff.
Ramesh Satpathy, president of Electricity Consumers’ Association, said the draft will affect the common consumers’ interest.
