The Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation’s (CESC) proposal to increase power tariff by ₹1.13 per unit was rejected by the power consumers from the domestic and industrial sectors.
At a public hearing conducted by Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) here on Wednesday, the CESC also came under fire from the public, industries as well as farmers’ associations for their alleged inefficiency.
Earlier, CESC Managing Director D. Kiran made a presentation and projected a net loss of ₹762.23 crore for Financial Year 2019. A power tariff hike of ₹1.13 per unit had become necessary in view of the revenue loss the corporation was suffering.
‘Exaggerated’ expenditure
While Mysuru Grahaka Parishat (MGP) rejected the proposal on the grounds that electricity supply companies cannot overcome their inefficiency by increasing the power tariff, Ravindra Prabhu, vice-president, KIADB Industrial Area Manufacturers’ Association (KIAMA), Mysuru, claimed that CESC ‘exaggerated’ its expenditure to show a deficit of ₹762.23 crore in order to justify its petition.
Mr. Prabhu argued that the loss incurred by CESC is only on account of poor management. The government has been earning profits by selling electricity through its own intermediaries. “Power is sold from KPCL to KPTCL and KPTCL to CESC, which in turn sells to the consumers,” he said, and added that the government is also earning by way of charging consumers tax. “The public have no access to the performance of these government-owned intermediaries,” he said.
Small scale industries
If the upward revision in price is allowed, Mr. Prabhu feared there would be a large scale closure of small scale industries, which were already reeling under recession. He urged the KERC to reject the CESC’s petition outright.
Unscheduled load shedding
Similarly, Manjunath, Joint Secretary, KASSIA, while voicing opposition to the proposed hike, pointed out that industries were experiencing unscheduled load shedding in CESC areas despite Section 23 of the Electricity Act, 2003, making KERC approval mandatory for load shedding. “The unscheduled load shedding has adversely affected the industries,” he said.
Unauthorized IP sets
Mr. Manjunath also pointed out that unauthorized Irrigation Pump (IP) sets were a “drain” on CESC. “Their HP is not known. Their consumption is not known. CESC can manipulate their numbers, consequently their consumption, subsidy amount and percentage of losses,” he said.
CESC had failed to regularise the unauthorized IP sets, which had been identified about a year back, he said, claiming that a total of 51,598 unauthorised IP sets were identified last year.
Also, he said that barely 9.6% of IP sets had been metered so far. “This is a clear violation of Section 55 of Electricity Act, 2003, which mandated that all installations should be metered by 2005,” he said, and added that the CESC had not committed any deadline for completing the metering process of IP sets.
KASSIA has also demanded the supply of reliable power to industries by providing separate independent feeders for industrial areas.
