PANJIM: In major relief to power consumers, the State government has not proposed any hike in the tariff across all slabs under domestic connections to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC).
Addressing media persons on Wednesday, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral said, “The department has informed JERC that we are not in favour of increasing the tariff of domestic connection and if required government would adjust the balance amount.”Government has last year deposited Rs 250 crore before JERC.
Slamming the opposition for their demand before JERC that the electricity should be made available free of cost to the people by following the Delhi model, Cabral said that actual tariff levied by the Delhi government for per unit was much higher than Goa. “I am ready to come out with white paper spelling out the details of what I have done during my tenure,” Minister said.
“I am ready to do what Delhi has done, but the tariffs will be hiked by almost two-three time more as compared to the current power tariff,” he said.
Refuting the claims of the opposition that electricity budget was not utilized by the department, Cabral said, “I have almost utilized 80 per cent of the amount allocated in the budget, and for this year we have got it enhanced by almost Rs 1,000 crore and we will see that the full amount is utilized this time.”
He said that for temporary connections government will soon provide prepaid meters wherein the consumer will be asked to pay the amount in advance for specific units and the power supply will be automatically disconnected once the specified units are consumed. Cabral further said that the old power meters will be replaced by over a period of six months adding that he informed that approximately 2.5 lakh digital meters have already installed.
