Power hike haunts small units in north east
Updated: May 02, 2013 03:56:50pm
Guwahati, May 2 (KNN) The North Eastern Small Scale Industries’ Association (NESSIA), has expressed concern over the proposal of the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) to hike power tariffs for all categories of consumers by 50 per cent on fixed charge and 50 per cent on energy charges to meet additional revenue requirements for financial years 2013-16.
NESSIA will bring up the issue with the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) in a meeting today, NESSIA informed KNN.
Earlier, NESSIA had submitted its petition of objection to AERC, stating that MSME entrepreneurs as well as domestic consumers who met at the Industrial Estate, here on the issue, opposed the APDCL proposal as “a one-sided move” and demanded instead a “give-and-take policy”.
“APDCL should take the responsibility for supplying uninterrupted power to the consumers at least for 90 per cent of the time every month irrespective of location, and then only can APDCL enhance tariff. Consumers are liable to pay only the actual power they receive and not for meeting the APDCL’s losses stemming from its own inefficiency,” NESSIA President Sailen Baruah said.
Baruah said that it was a general practice of APDCL to hike power charges every year without improving the supply condition to consumers.
“The actual power situation is going from bad to worse. There is a huge shortfall of required power during both peak hours and off-peak hours. Unless and until the State has sufficient power of its own, the dependency of APDCL on power purchase increases, which in term increases tariff, inconvenience to consumers and corruption in the power corridors. It is, therefore, advisable to emphasize more on generating power,” NESSIA said.
“The propose hike in the fixed charge to the industries up to 50 KVA connection from Rs 40 to 90 per KW/month would adversely affect the functioning of small scale industries. The industries having connected load up to 50 KVA are now paying Rs 2,000 per month on fixed charge, but now the same industries will have to pay Rs 4,500 per month on fixed charge, and on energy charge, they will have to pay from the existing Rs 3.25 per KW an hour to Rs 6.50 per KW an hour with additional burden,” he added.
According to NESSIA, most of the industries in the state fall in the small scale sector covering connected load up to the range 50 KVA, and their activities are restricted to the day hours from 8 am to 5 pm.
Moreover, due to peak-load hour restriction, holiday, weekly offs and other factors, small sector industries up to 50 KVA load hardly utilize power for 22 days a month on eight-hour basis but the industries are paying fixed charge on actual connected load without utilizing fully the power.
According to media reports, majority of small sector Industries in the state have opposed such a hike in fixed charge and sought revival. The opinion of the industry bodies is that unless the propose hike in fixed charge on connected load of power is not slashed; the next revision would sound the death knell for a number of units in small scale industries. Therefore NESSIA requested commission and APDCL to reduce the existing fixed charge along with power tariff. (SD/KNN)
NESSIA will bring up the issue with the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) in a meeting today, NESSIA informed KNN.
Earlier, NESSIA had submitted its petition of objection to AERC, stating that MSME entrepreneurs as well as domestic consumers who met at the Industrial Estate, here on the issue, opposed the APDCL proposal as “a one-sided move” and demanded instead a “give-and-take policy”.
“APDCL should take the responsibility for supplying uninterrupted power to the consumers at least for 90 per cent of the time every month irrespective of location, and then only can APDCL enhance tariff. Consumers are liable to pay only the actual power they receive and not for meeting the APDCL’s losses stemming from its own inefficiency,” NESSIA President Sailen Baruah said.
Baruah said that it was a general practice of APDCL to hike power charges every year without improving the supply condition to consumers.
“The actual power situation is going from bad to worse. There is a huge shortfall of required power during both peak hours and off-peak hours. Unless and until the State has sufficient power of its own, the dependency of APDCL on power purchase increases, which in term increases tariff, inconvenience to consumers and corruption in the power corridors. It is, therefore, advisable to emphasize more on generating power,” NESSIA said.
“The propose hike in the fixed charge to the industries up to 50 KVA connection from Rs 40 to 90 per KW/month would adversely affect the functioning of small scale industries. The industries having connected load up to 50 KVA are now paying Rs 2,000 per month on fixed charge, but now the same industries will have to pay Rs 4,500 per month on fixed charge, and on energy charge, they will have to pay from the existing Rs 3.25 per KW an hour to Rs 6.50 per KW an hour with additional burden,” he added.
According to NESSIA, most of the industries in the state fall in the small scale sector covering connected load up to the range 50 KVA, and their activities are restricted to the day hours from 8 am to 5 pm.
Moreover, due to peak-load hour restriction, holiday, weekly offs and other factors, small sector industries up to 50 KVA load hardly utilize power for 22 days a month on eight-hour basis but the industries are paying fixed charge on actual connected load without utilizing fully the power.
According to media reports, majority of small sector Industries in the state have opposed such a hike in fixed charge and sought revival. The opinion of the industry bodies is that unless the propose hike in fixed charge on connected load of power is not slashed; the next revision would sound the death knell for a number of units in small scale industries. Therefore NESSIA requested commission and APDCL to reduce the existing fixed charge along with power tariff. (SD/KNN)
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