The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed out at the Odisha government, alleging that the government deliberately stayed out of a recent hearing relating to power tariff hike by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE).
"The Odisha government never bothered to place its case before the tribunal despite the fact that the secretary of energy department was served three notices to appear in the case. This clearly proves the unholy nexus between the distribution companies (discoms) and the government and exposes their conspiracy," said senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra at a press meet.
In a recent judgement, the ATE directed the state power regulator Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) to raise electricity tariff in the state after accepting the contentions of Reliance Infrastructure managed distribution companies (discoms) - North Eastern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Nesco), Western Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Wesco) and Southern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Southco).
The ATE order dated November 30 last year directed OERC to recognise the unsustainable distribution loss incurred by Reliance Infrastructure managed discoms and asked the regulator to recover the same through tariff hike.
"OERC is understood to have moved the Supreme Court against the ATE order. The case is pending. The state government is also readying to challenge the ATE order in the apex court. We will fight to ensure that the ATE order is set aside," said Suresh C Mohapatra, principal secretary (energy).
Mohapatra, however, said the move is a mere eyewash and poor consumers will end up paying higher tariff due to callousness of the government.
The discoms in their appeal pointed out that OERC had not been complying with the ATE's orders on their appeals. The discoms had challenged the order of the state commission for determination of the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) of discoms on unrealistic loss levels while determining tariff.
The state commission has been refusing to implement the ATE's directives from 2006-07 to 2014-15, on the pretext that appeals have been filed against the ATE's orders in the Supreme Court. But the apex court refused to grant any stay on the ATE order.
In its earlier four orders, the tribunal had categorically directed OERC for setting distribution loss targets based on the ground realities, actual loss level and realistic loss reduction targets.
The ATE has passed the latest order, setting aside different tariff orders of OERC since 2006-07. Implementation of the tribunal's order may lead to an unpalatable situation requiring consumers to pay through the nose for electricity consumption for the past years as per the revised tariff.
