Bengaluru, Feb 28 (KNN) Hubballi industries have opposed the proposed power tariff hike by the Hubballi Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM) alleging  the discom is passing the burden to the customers without many efforts to recover Rs 2,219.27 crore arrears (till 2015-16).

Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has alleged that in the last 14 years of its establishment, HESCOM had declared profit for nine years and suffered loss for five years.

Talking to media persons, KCCI President Ramesh Patil and office-bearers Siddeshwar Kammar and A.S. Kulkarni said that now HESCOM was seeking a tariff hike of Rs 1.48 per unit to recover its total revenue deficit of Rs 1,536.76 crore.

KCCI claimed that as per the documents, HESCOM had a revenue deficit of Rs  372.73 crore during 2015-16 and for 2017-18, it is showing a deficit of Rs  1,164.03 crore. Interestingly, as per the KERC tariff order on March 30, 2016, there is no deficit for HESCOM during 2016-17. Consumers are simply being asked to pay for HESCOM’s mismanagement.

“Our main question is, why HESCOM is asking for tariff revision when it has to recover Rs  2,219.27 crore arrears. So we are asking KERC to fix eligibility criteria for HESCOM, which it should adhere to before seeking hike,” Kulkarni said.

He pointed out that many of the KERC directions given while passing orders on tariff revision were not followed by HESCOM and KERC should make it mandatory for HESCOM to first follow the directions before applying for revision.