Dharwad: The stakeholders who took part in the public hearing on the proposed power tariff revision invited by the Karnataka Electricity Regulation Commission (KERC), have opposed the Hescom’s (Hubballi Electricity Supply Company) move of seeking a hike of Rs. 1.48 paise per unit.
The meeting held at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, was chaired by Karnataka Electricity Regulation Commission (KERC) Chairman M K Shankarlinge Gowda. The power consumers objected that the Hescom was transferring its financial burden incurred due to its unscientific policies, onto the consumers.
They appealed to the KERC to protect the interests of the consumers and not allow the Hescom to hike tariff.
Raising objection, Gadag Chamber of Commerce & Industry former president R K Rangrez said the proposed tariff hike will not serve any purpose either to the consumers or to the industries. The industries which had signed up during the “Invest in Karnataka” programme to open their plants here, would flee to other states, he said.
The Hescom has claimed that it has not incurred financial loss in 2016-17 and hence, same tariff should be carried forward to 2017-18, and the proposed deficit balance sheet proposed by Hescom for 2018, should be rejected outrightly, he said.
People said parts of north Karnataka region are facing one of the worst situation from the last two years. Seeking power tariff hike under such situation is absolutely intolerable. The monthly billing for IP sets has increased administrative charges on Hescom, which was being transferred onto the customers.
Another customer who pointed out that transformers are badly maintained and hence, the repair cost is escalating from year to year, which the Hescom is passing onto the consumers, he said.
A S Kulkarni from KCC&I demanded Hescom to increase the rebate on electricity bills for the people to encourage more usage of solar energy.
Reacting on a query on power awareness programmes, KERC Chairman Shankarlinge Gowda said that penalty would be imposed on Escoms for failing to hold educative programmes on saving electricity.
