No power tariff hike proposed for 2019-20

Team Herald

PANJIM: In major relief to consumers in the State, Goa Electricity Department (ED) chose not to propose any tariff hike for 2019-20, despite the Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) projecting a revenue gap of Rs 308 crore at the prevailing tariff at the end of fiscal 2018-19.

The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), that held a public hearing on Monday on ED’s annual performance review of 2018-19 and tariff determination for 2019-20, directed the department to put in place a Public Grievance Forum (PGF) to address day-to-day woes of consumers. It also asked ED to conduct an area-wise survey to identify the infrastructure requirement to ensure better power supply. 

JERC chairman MK Goel and Member Neerja Mathur chaired the public hearing that saw a flood of complaints against the department with regard to power theft, power fluctuations, non-functioning meters, poor infrastructure and no platform to address grievances. 

Chief Electrical Engineer Reshma Mathew in her presentation said the net revenue gap will be Rs 308 crore in 2019-20 but this will be met through budgetary support. The renew gap is basically due to the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO), she stated. 

“This means no additional burden on consumers for past year true-ups,” she said and added, “Further, no tariff hike proposed for FY 2019-20.”

The net annual revenue requirement for 2018-19 is Rs 2,101 crore, while for 2019-20 it is Rs 2,188.33 crore.  Whereas, the net annual revenue supply from power is Rs 1,858.39 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 1,880 crore in 2019-20. 

During the hearing, consumer forum activist Roland Martins brought to the notice of JERC the untapped power theft and failure of ED to act on this. He claimed that power theft is the major reason for the increasing revenue gap and the same needs to be tapped. 

Martins also pointed out that despite non-functioning of meters, the department is generating bills fraudulently and no attempts are made to replace faulty meters. “As a genuine consumer, why should I pay from my pocket for someone else’s theft of power or faulty billing,” he stated. 

Activists like Martins, Lauda Fernandes, Martin Rodrigues, Paul D’Souza, and others raised serious concern about non presence of grievance redressal mechanism with the department. They said that there is no platform where consumers can go and complaints as far as their day-to-day queries are concerned.