Thanks to power cuts and steep hike in power tariff.
The power consumers formed a Forum to highlight the plight and grievances of commoner.
A committee of 25 people was formed at a conference on ‘power cut and hike in tariff' organised here on Sunday. The committee would fight against the erratic power supply, high and low voltage problems and other grievances in Krishnalanka Bus Station area.
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The committee would also fight against the power cuts.
Power fluctuation
The consumers at the meet pointed out that the home appliances like refrigerators, television sets have burnt due to high voltage recently in Krishnalanka area.
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The SPDCL authorities were not taking any measures to maintain proper voltage, they alleged.
Some of the consumers were up in arms against the change in slab.
Surcharge hiked
The commoner was shocked to see the steep hike in their power bills. In some cases, the hike touched 80 per cent also. A consumer, for instance, who used to get Rs. 72.50 bill for consuming 50 units (less than 500 watt load), has to cough up Rs. 130 now for same consumption.
In non-domestic sector, a petty trader who used to pay Rs. 192 for 50 units has to pay Rs. 300 now, they pointed out.
The penalties levied by the SPDCL also came in sharp criticism from the speakers.
The SPDCL also increased the surcharge on delayed payments.
It used to be five paise for every Rs. 100.
Now the minimum penalty was Rs. 25.
The reconnection charges were up by Rs. 25 from Rs. 50. In addition, the eSeva centres charge Rs. 5 to Rs. 25 depending upon the billed amount.
The power companies were not providing connections below 500 W load, and insisting to take 1000 W load connections, they asserted.
Vasavi Seva Kendram secretary Matta Subba Rao, consumers Narayana Reddy, Chalapati Rao and others spoke.
Earlier, CPI (M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao, former corporator Donepudi Kasinath addressed the gathering. SPDCL AE Malleswara Rao clarified the doubts of the consumers.