On Wednesday, hapless consumers were before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) to oppose the proposed 73 paisa increase in power tariff by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company. The last hike was implemented in October 2011 and introducing another one with a five month gap was strongly opposed. “How long will this situation of annual increase of electricity charges go on in this state? Government should find a balance or else consumers will be burdened heavily every passing year,” said Mr Y.V. Aswathnarayana, representing Consumer Care society. He pointed out that as per calculations, Bescom has a surplus of Rs 933 crore which, according to Bescom calculations, is Rs 733 crore. “This is still a sizeable amount and can be kept as a regulatory liability against Bescom,” he said.
Industries hit out against government and asked it to clear pending arrears. “Government should release funds to clear the arrears owed to Escoms,” said Prakash N. Raikar, president, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA). He added that the frequent increases in tariffs adds to the burden on companies, affecting their annual plans. K. Srinivas Rao, member, KERC, however, asked industries to work towards balancing their load so that peak hour power purchase could be reduced. “Otherwise tariffs will go up and it will affect you,” he said.
Opposing the increase, BWSSB representatives claimed their annual expenditure was already spent on power purchase and there was already a shortfall of Rs 100 crore in their financial statements which would be further increased to Rs 150 crore, should the tariff hike be implemented. Bescom claimed that the hike was necessary. “Bescom gets only 1.8 per cent of hydel power. So we have no cheap source of power,” said Mr P. Manivannan, Bescom MD.