Satna SSIs defy MP power board

Units charge board with sending them inflated bills

Thirty small-scale units of Madhya Pradesh's Satna district, with a combined turnover of roughly Rs 100 crore, have decided not to pay power dues for May, alleging that the state electricity board (SEB) had given them inflated bills. They also reportedly staged a roadblock in the town.

Satna has 92 small-scale units, producing submersible pumps, finished timbers, processed dal and firebricks, etc., employing 4,000 people directly. Their power bills total Rs 50 lakh, according to a Satna Zilla Udyog Sangh office-bearer.

SEB official Pankaj Agrawal said a meeting of the industrialists with the state regulatory commission would take place in Bhopal on June 26 to settle the issue. However, it looks like the issue of new tariffs, effective from May, will snowball into a major one.

Reports of protests have been received from the Gwalior and Indore regions, where small-scale units, through local chambers, are planning to move against the board on the proposed power tariff hike.

"The board assumes our mills run round the clock. They (board) are charging Rs 150 per KvA as fixed charges. As a result, a small-scale unit will now have to pay Rs 22,000 a month, against Rs 8,000-10,000 earlier. This will choke the industry," said an office-bearer of the Sangh.

According to the chamber, almost each small-scale unit consumes just 1,800-2,000 units, but the board's bills show a consumption of at least 4,100 units of 50 HP power.

Office-bearers of the Sangh say rates shown are as high as Rs 74 per unit. "The units are facing closure; we will not pay the bills until the state government annuls the new tariffs," Gopi Gelani, an office-bearer, told Business Standard, on the phone.

Citing some cases, a Sangh statement said: "A miller, Jain Brothers, with a connected load of 74 Kw, has been slapped bills of Rs 43,068 against a consumption of only 579 units. The bill would have been about Rs 17,195 as per the previous tariff order of 2004-05. Thus, the effective tariff is Rs 74 per unit and the effective increase is Rs 44.69 per unit."

The Sangh has alleged it had an understanding with the board to get included in the Group A7 category for getting exemption from regular power cuts, but the board has made no effort so far.

"We have contributed Rs 10 lakh for this. A separate feeder was allotted and installed a year ago, but we hardly get power," another office-bearer Subhash Agrawal told Business Standard on the phone from Satna.