Mangalore, September 20: People from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikmaglur and Shimoga districts flayed Mangalore Electricity Supply Company's proposed hike in tariff rate during the public hearing on Monday.
A delegation of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission held a hearing in the office of the Deputy Commissioner to record the objections of people to Mescom's proposed hike in tariff rates citing revenue deficits.
Advisor to the KERC and member of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangha B. Sathyanarayana Udupa questioned the need for raising the power tariff. He said that during the last year, Mescom had purchased 500 million units of power but had not consumed them. If the cost of this was subtracted from its expenditure, Mescom's balance sheet would show profit and not loss, he said.
He also said that Mescom should base its proposal on audited accounts and not provisional accounts as it had done. Bangalore-based advocate Shridhar Prabhu said that the commission itself had raised preliminary objections to the proposal, but Mescom had not circulated the amended copy of the proposal. He said that accounts should be audited.
When Mr. Prabhu too raised the matter of the 500 million units that were “not consumed”, President of the commission Shrinivas Murthy said that the commission would take cognisance of it and do what could be done about it. Representatives of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association, Kanara Small Industries Association and District Small Industries Association opposed the hike.
An old man who did not introduce himself said that Mescom was obtaining loans at interest rates of around 12 or 13 per cent, and passing the burden on to the consumer. This should be stopped, he said.
Ashok Kumar, an ice-factory owner said that the subsidy which had been announced for ice-factory and cold storage firms five years ago had come only during the first year. As many as 180 firms in the three coastal districts had not received the subsidy for the last four years, he said. Mr. Murthy directed Mescom to deal with the issue immediately.
K.N. Venkatagiri Rao from Sagar Balakedarara Vedike pointed out that despite Mescom stating that it was running up a deficit of around 72 paisa per unit, it had proposed to hike the fares by 88 paisa. According to Section 61(f) of the Electricity Act 2003, multi-year tariff introduced in 2010 should continue until 2013. Therefore, raising the tariff at this juncture was against the Act, he said.
One Mr. Anil from the Karnataka Planters' Association in Chikmaglur requested that cultivation of Robusta coffee be treated as seasonal industry as irrigation pump sets were used only for six weeks a year and only when the rains were insufficient.
At the end of the hearing Mr. Murthy told the media that the commission would arrive at a decision by mid-October. Replying to a question he said that the commission would protect the interest of both the escoms as well as the people.
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