Power tariff hike opposed

The proposal of the Hubli Electricity Supply Company (Hescom) to hike the electricity charges by 51 paise per unit has met with stiff resistance from consumers.

Representatives of several organisations petitioned the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) here on Friday to drop the proposal and urged it to advise Hescom to concentrate on improving its service to the consumers.

At the interaction session held at the Deputy Commissioner’s office premises here, the petitioners pointed out that the services rendered by Hescom was much to be desired. G K Hegde of North Canara Chamber of Commerce and Industry complained that unscheduled load shedding was causing a lot of hardship to people and demanded that the schedule be announced much in advance. He was sour that response from the officials to consumers’ grievances was casual and unfriendly. The ‘Soujanya’ centres lacked ‘Soujanya’ (courteous behaviour) as the staff there never bothered to listen to the woes of the customers, he alleged.

Hegde said the Hescom had failed to provide meters to the customers though they were willing to pay for them. He pointed out that the recovery in Uttara Kannada district was 97 per cent but the service provided by Hescom left much to be desired.

S K Hegde of Kumta while opposing the proposal to hike tariff urged officials to simplify the procedure of transferring meters to the legal heirs after the death of the owner. He also wanted meter readers and other employees of Hescom to wear uniforms and possess ID cards.

Chairman of Power Committee of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hubli A S Kulkarni sought to know the cost cutting measures taken by Hescom which is under loss. He also opposed imposing higher tariff on the flood-affected people in Dharwad, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Gadag districts. Kulkarni urged the Hescom to provide incentives to those using alternative sources of energy like solar energy.

Hescom MD Ajai Nagabhushan explained the steps taken by the company to provide better service and said hike in power tariff had become inevitable as the company had a revenue gap of Rs 707 crore during financial year 2009-2010 and of Rs 745 crore during 2008-2009. He said purchase of power at a high price had put Hescom in a difficult position.

The company is also facing problems like shortage of staff among others. “But still 25 sub stations had been set up last year and another 26 will be established this year” the MD informed.

KERC chairman K P Pandey, members of the commission Vishwanath Hiremath and K Shrinivas Rao were present.