Apart from the unanimous opinion of all speakers that electricity tariffs should not be hiked for domestic consumers and small industries, the final public hearing of Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) on the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company's (TANGEDCO) petition to revise electricity tariff held here on Friday witnessed demands for continuous power supply, immediate commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) and cutting down on power theft and Transmission and Distribution (T & D) losses.
Criticism
TNERC Members K. Venugopal and S. Nagasamy listened to a barrage of intense criticism against this proposal at a time when the State was reeling under the grip of over eight hours of power cuts.
Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) President V.S. Manimaran spoke out strongly against the exemption given to Chennai from power cuts, which was providing an unfair advantage to the units based there
Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association president S.P. Jeyapragasam said that an Energy Tax is being levied upon businesses which use generators, compounding their misery.
Ex-MLA N. Nanmaran said that a power hike was unacceptable at a time when the people are already suffering from high inflation and increase in prices of bus tickets and milk.
Noting that the heavy industries in Chennai had agreements guaranteeing uninterrupted power, he said that the authorities should focus on collecting dues from corporates.
S. Selvaraj, joint secretary of Tamil Nadu Consumers' Protection Centre, said that stringent punishment should be levied on those misusing their power connection. He also demanded a ban on use of agricultural connection for other purposes.
N. Nelliappan, a Madurai resident, said that the power department authorities should seek more capital investment than increase tariffs to have surplus.
Similar public hearing have already been held at Chennai (January 30), Coimbatore (February 2), Tiruchi on February 6.
The previous power tariff hike was in August 2010.
G. Rajagopal, Director-Finance, TANGEDCO, said that one unit of electricity was manufactured at a cost of Rs. 6 while the Corporation realised only Rs. 4.
He explained that increase in power tariff was needed now due to inadequate increase in the price of power for nearly a decade despite steep rise in input costs since 2005; the increasing loan burden – exceeding Rs. 45,000 crore – that made difficult even debt-servicing; the increasing requirement of power for economic growth; and to implement proposals for adding 6,000 MW power generation capacity during the 12th Five Year plan period (2012-2017).
