Puducherry residents oppose power tariff revision, slam Electricity Board for failing to plug distribution losses, recover dues

Residents, political parties, and organizations oppose power tariff hike in Puducherry, questioning its justification and timing.

Residents, representatives of political parties, trade organisations and industrial bodies have opposed another revision of the power tariff in Puducherry.

Participants at a public hearing organised by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission held on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, said the frequent power tariff hike was not justifiable at all. 

The Electricity Department has approached JERC for a tariff revision for 2024-25 as the utility aims to close in on its estimated cumulative revenue gap of around ₹ 700 crore. The department has sought the JERC’s nod for a hike in the domestic category by 50 paise per unit (kilo watt hour/kWh) in the 0-100 units per month consumption slab; 75 paise in the 101-200 units slab, 60 paise in the 201-300 units slab and 70 paise in the slab of over 300 units.

Questioning the conduct of public hearing at a short notice, G. Ramasamy, a resident of Ezhil Nagar, said “The conduct of a public hearing at a short notice and that too for just a few hours is an eyewash. It has become a practice to hold a public hearing without any real purpose.” He also criticised the authorities for bringing out the revision application only in Engligh.

Several representatives of non-governmental organisations and political parties questioned the necessity to hike the tariff after a decision to privatise power distribution in the U.T. has been taken. The frequent increase in the tariff, they said was aimed at helping the private entity that was planning to take over the distribution network in the U.T. They also expressed dismay over the department’s inaction in plugging distribution losses and recovering huge dues from various government departments and high tension (HT) power consumers. 

The department has completely failed to plug revenue losses and distribution loss, they said adding that the utility was instead adopting the easy route of placing an additional financial burden on the public to raise revenue. The department has found it convenient to burden the people in the past too, to fill in revenue gaps by raising tariffs. This latest move to increase the electricity tariff was only in that direction, representatives said.

The representatives also requested the JERC to direct the government to fil inl vacancies in the department to improve its efficiency.