Public spat between West Bengal’s steel plants, power utility over tariff hike

Damodar Valley Corporation defends electricity tariff hike amid row with steel producers, seeking Chief Minister's intervention in West Bengal.

The Damodar Valley Corporation has defended its electricity tariff hike, which has sparked a row with steel producers. Steel plants in West Bengal have sought the Chief Minister’s intervention to mitigate the sudden rise in tariffs. BJP leaders said industries in West Bengal have been forced to beg for “mercy” from the CM to survive.

On May 29, major industry associations in West Bengal, including the Steel Re-Rolling Mills Association, WB Sponge Iron Manufacturers’ Association and Damodar Valley Power Consumers’ Association, published an advertisement in local newspapers appealing to Mamata Banerjee. They sought urgent intervention to reverse the recent electricity tariff hike by the DVC, which they claim has increased power costs by 30% for critical manufacturing sectors such as sponge iron, crude steel, and ferro alloys. 

In response, DVC officials pushed back and said the last time they got government grants was 1968 and as per the rise in market values, they can rightly demand an increase in power prices.

“We survive on our own, other than some small grants from here and there. As a public body, we are not supposed to be money minded, but we need to justify the production costs at least,” DVC Chairman S. Suresh Kumar said at a press conference in Kolkata on Friday (May 30).

Mr. Kumar also added that the stakeholders who are demanding a rebate in tariff have also filed 300-400 cases. “It is a waste of money. We go back and forth to court, but what has to be paid has to be paid. They know that,” Mr. Kumar further stated. 

In its statement, DVC accused the associations of “factual inaccuracies” and presenting a “completely one-sided” narrative. According to the power utility, the tariffs are fixed by the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC), not DVC, and have remained largely static since 2018-19 due to prolonged litigation initiated by the associations themselves. 

While the row festers, State BJP President and MP Sukanta Majumdar posted a sharp statement on X and said, “Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal is now a begging ground — where industries are forced to publish newspaper ads pleading for mercy. Steel & Ferro Alloys sectors warn: arbitrary power tariff hikes will destroy factories, kill jobs, and push lakhs into unemployment.”