Power tariff hike will not affect 57 pc consumers: Rajasthan Energy Minister

Rajasthan Energy Minister B D Kalla on Monday said the power tariff hike of 11.21 per cent will not affect more than half of the consumers even as the opposition blamed the state government for burdening people with its losses.

During a debate on the power tariff hike in the state Assembly, which came into effect in the state from February 1, Kalla said it will not affect 57 per cent of the total consumers, including 20 lakh BPL families, 42 lakh small domestic electricity consumers and 14 lakh farmers.

He said 76 lakh consumers will not be affected by the power tariff and government has not put the burden of losses on the consumers as alleged by the BJP.

Kalla said power production cost has increased by 14 per cent since 2016.

He said that previous BJP government had increased tariff twice in Feb 2015 by 16.89 per cent and 9.58 per cent in 2016.

Former School Education minister Vasudev Devnani questioned the logic of charging more than Rs 7 per unit from consumers when the government was purchasing electricity at Rs 3 to 3.5 per unit.