Consumers oppose MESCOM move to hike power tariff

Power company’s ‘round-the-clock consumer service centre is ineffective in handling public grievances’

February 14, 2020 12:44 am | Updated 12:44 am IST - MANGALURU

A farmer from Udupi Sathyanarayana Udupa speaking during the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission public hearing on hike in power tariff proposed by MESCOM, at the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Mangaluru on Thursday.

A farmer from Udupi Sathyanarayana Udupa speaking during the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission public hearing on hike in power tariff proposed by MESCOM, at the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Mangaluru on Thursday.

While strongly opposing a move by Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (MESCOM) to hike power tariff by 0.62 paise per unit, consumers at a public hearing here on Thursday suggested that the company come out with a better mechanism for recovery of dues owed by the State government.

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) conducted the hearing.

Farmers and industrial body representatives from Mangaluru, Udupi, Chickmagaluru and Shivamogga expressed the need for MESCOM to improve its grievance redressal mechanism.

K.L. Venkatagiri from Consumers Forum, Sagar, Shivamogga, said that MESCOM is yet to get ₹ 913 crore from the State government, ₹ 408 crore from other electricty supply companies, ₹ 156 crore from the Panchayat Raj Department and ₹ 61 crore from KPTCL. The hands of MESCOM needs to be strengthened to recover this amount totalling ₹ 1,760 crore. To this, KERC Chairman Shambhu Dayal Meena said, “We are not stopping MESCOM from recovering dues.” Stating that MESCOM’s round-the-clock consumer service centre was ineffective in handling grievances, Mr. Venkatagiri said that it was not being operated by responsible officers.

“A few outsourced personnel are handling calls. We are not seeing any qualitative change in its operation,” he said and sought an empirical study on its working.

While seeking funds for promotion of solar power, he said that ₹ 50 lakh allocated for consumer welfare fund should be used for activities that help build the trust of consumers in MESCOM.

A farmer Sathyanarayana Udupa from Udupi said that MESCOM was going very slow on metering of pumpsets. MESCOM should ensure that street lights in the jurisdiction of local bodies should not be on during the day. The 48 % manpower shortage was preventing MESCOM from giving effective services, he said.

Parameshwara from Bharatiya Kisan Sangh of Chikkamagaluru said that farmers need three-phase power supply during the day. Lakshminarayana from Bantwal asked MESCOM to consider schemes such as “Own your transformer”, which had been adopted by farmers in Gujarat.

Karnataka Coastal Ice Plant Owners Association president Rajesh Suvarna sought special tariff for ice plant operators in the coastal region.

A representative from Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that small scale industries were facing hardship following global recession, demonetisation, reduced sales and the recessionary conditions for the last two years. An increase in power tariffs will hit hard the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), he said. A representative from Mangalore Special Economic Zone also opposed the proposed new tariff.

KERC members H.M. Manjunatha and M.D. Ravi participated in the proceedings.

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