The Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) staged a protest in front of electricity Superintending Engineer’s (SE) office here on Tuesday opposing the true-up charges, smart meters etc. The CPI(M) also conducted a praja ballot in the city on true-up charges and smart meters. They displayed the ballot boxes in front of the electricity office, and explained to the public about the charges. As many as 99% people have opposed the power tariff, smart meters and true-up charges.
Speaking on the occasion, CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao said that they had placed 2024-25 annual reports, and 2024- 29 multi year power reports before the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), and submitted a 50-page memorandum. It was not correct on the part of the ERC to conduct the public hearing for namesake and in a hurried manner, he said. The ERC was not taking the objections raised by the people, political parties and associations. The ERC miserably failed in protecting the interests of the consumers, Mr. Babu Rao alleged.
He said that the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, as a run up to the elections, had promised that there would not be any upward revision of tariff if people voted the YSRCP to power. But, soon after coming to power, Mr. Jagan had imposed a burden of ₹30,000 crore on the people. Power tariff hike, change of slabs, fixed charges, true-up charges, adjustment charges, development charges, additional deposits and penalties were some of the ways the government had chosen to burden the people, Mr. Babu Rao alleged.
The government has been saying that there were no proposals to hike the charges for the year 2024-25 but was continuing the adjustment charges. The government is gearing up to levy ₹7,000 crore as new adjustment charges but kept it a secret as the elections were fast approaching, he alleged.
