Team Herald
PANJIM: Already hit by increased power bills due to the Fuel and Power Purchase and Cost Adjustment (FPPCA) charges, Goans will soon have to shell out even more for the electricity they consume, as the Goa government is likely to hike the power tariff by 5 percent.
The move comes as the government is looking to clear the revenue gap of approximately Rs 80 crore for the 2018-19 fiscal year, while the balance will be settled through the government’s budgetary support of Rs 394 crore.
In a public notice of its petition filed before the JERC, the department has also said that the revenue gap for the 2018-19 fiscal was Rs 473 crore.
The petition has been put in public domain on the department’s website for objections and suggestions. The last date for submissions is January 31, 2018.
Speaking to Herald, Chief Electrical Engineer (CEE) Neelkanth Reddy said “This is the first hike in the last two years. FPPCA charges are not hikes, they will come back in later stages regularly. This will be a small hike. We have to clear the revenue gap of Rs 80 crore. If we calculate the hike of 5 percent it will be in paise.”
He added, “It is entirely with JERC and the petition has been put in public domain for objections and suggestions from the consumers and public.”
Last year the government had faced severe criticism after it added FPPCA charges in the power bills twice. The government had claimed it was unavoidable as it is as per the regulations of the JERC.
Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar had earlier also tried to clear the air about increase in power bills in Goa and that the hike was only for that quarter. “FPPCA charges were unavoidable. Government has not charged any extra money from the public. Power tariff has not been hiked for the last two years and it will not be hiked in the coming year too,” Madkaikar had said.
While residents across Goa are yet to recover from the shock of enhanced bills due to the FPPCA charges, industries have complained that they were shocked to see a huge increase in their monthly bills recently, in some cases it being double or triple the earlier average bill amount.
Some claimed that instead of getting monthly bills, they received inflated bills of accumulated months, which affected their budget.
Speaking to Herald, an official from an industry in Verna said they had to pay Rs 8,58,269 towards electricity charges for the month of April last year due to the increase in the FPPCA as compared to the previous month bill that was Rs 7,63,034.
“We had to pay an additional amount of Rs 95,235 which is a huge burden. The FPPCA charges for the month of March was Rs 51,244 but with the increase, the charges tripled to 1,78,384,” said the official.
Several other consumers had similar complaints, many of them had even marched to the electricity office with the hope that their bills would be rectified, which did not happen.
“I always used to get a bill in the range of Rs 700 to Rs 850 but suddenly due to the FPPCA charges the bill amount went up. We are facing the pinch because instead of getting monthly bills, we have received inflated bills of accumulated amounts at an interval of two-three months which has severely affected the budget,” said Nandesh Desai, a resident of Caranzalem.
Another resident of Taleigao, Reena D’Souza, said, “Earlier, we used to receive monthly electricity bills of Rs 600-700, however, this time I was shocked to find a huge increase in the electricity bills.”
