The demand to raise electricity tariff by all ESCOMs of the state by 88 paiseôunit has attracted wide criticism from industry circle.
The Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), after going through annual revenue requirement records of electricity supply companies said: “The demand is quite higher and not justifiable as per calculations.” However, when asked about how much extra the supplying companies are demanding, the BCIC official quipped saying, “they are quoting higher than the required.”
And did not give any figure to it. It said in a statement, that the losses across all the ESCOMs are different and upto the maximum of 20 per cent and are passing burden indirectly on industry. Further, it added, the industry is going through a very bad patch with the increased interest rate, the slowing down of reforms and the impact on the exports.
Further it said, “it is not acceptable that industry should pay more for a basic need like electricity which will further make them non competitive and hence lead to their closure.”
BCIC urged Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) to implement flat/single tariff structure that is spelt out in National Electricity Policy 2005 and implement the Phase-I by financial year of 2012.
