PANJIM: Admitting that the government had proposed a 19 percent power tariff hike as against the approved 14 percent by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), Power Minister Milind Naik assured to scale down the tariff for certain sections.
“It is a fact that the recent power tariff hike has affected over 2.70 lakh consumers. The department is now working on providing relaxation to certain sections which will comprise nearly 40,000-50,000 consumers which are severally affected,” Naik said.
“The power tariff hike is as per the JERC norms. Neither people nor government realized in the beginning that the hike would have such a major impact. Hence the department is now working on a solution,” the minister said replying to questions raised by the opposition benches who demanded a rollback or a solution to the issue.
Congress MLA Digamber Kamat, independent MLAs Rohan Khaunte and Vijay Sardessai highlighted the plight of the people, facing severe problem due to the power tariff hike. The question was tabled by Khaunte, who pointed out that as per JERC norms the power department has failed to conduct an audit for three years and sought to know whether the department will consider a rollback in the tariff.
Supporting him, Kamat said that domestic and small business sections are the most affected with the hike. He informed the House that consumers are also affected with the department’s back billing system, which they claim is as per the JERC norms.
“As per JERC norms back billing is restricted to six months. However, consumers receive back billing of two-three years giving them a shock,” Kamat said, demanding that the anomalies be resolved.
In another assurance, the minister assured to re-constitute the consumer redressal forum and power advisory commission to increase transparency in the department.
Earlier, Khaunte questioned the government on the delay in forming a corporation when its Electricity Act 2003 clearly says that JERC norms are not applicable to the department but only for corporation.
