PANJIM: Goa Electricity Department, in its petition filed before the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for tariff approval for 2017-18, abstained from a hike in the tariff.

However, the department failed to convince the Commission on the measures that would be undertaken to cover the revenue gap of Rs 149 crore, which the department stated would be borne by the State government as support. The department further proposed 76 paise per unit service charge on power purchased from Maharashtra.

Contesting the intentions of the department, Roland Martins of GOACAN said the department instead of plugging leakages and proposing to rely on the government for allocation is only burdening the consumers indirectly. He said, “The department has shown a revenue gap of Rs 149 crore which actually is a revenue loss. They don’t collect it from the consumer directly but they get the amount from the State exchequer.”

Placing before the JERC that the arrivals in the State are three times the actual population, Martins demanded that tourists and the tourism sector be used as a means to generate more revenue.

Issues of inconsistent billing cycles and exorbitant bills were raised during the hearing.