Power tariff hike shock for consumers

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 23

The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (PSERC) announcement of power tariff hike by 9.33 per cent over the existing tariff has come as a rude shock to the consumer.

In addition to this, the Punjab Government imposes a levy of 2 per cent municipal tax on electricity within the MC limits.

The diktat of the PSERC and the Congress government will further burden the urban consumer and it has come under a scathing attack from the common man as well as industrialists.

According to information, the PSERC has increased the power tariff by 9.33 per cent over the existing tax slab. The domestic consumer will have to pay 7 to12 per cent additional tax while commercial consumers will have to shell out 8.50 per cent to 10.50 per cent additional tax.

BJP MP Shwet Malik said the Congress government in the state was misleading the people of Punjab. He pointed out that whenever there were elections, the Congress government fooled the people by making false promises. He said the PSPCL was an autonomous body and the Punjab Government had no stake in it. “I don’t understand how it was claiming to provide power to the industrial sector on subsidised rates,” he added.

RTI activist Jagdish Singh said the power tariff hike would be applicable from April 1, which meant the consumers would have to pay arrears to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). People, especially those belonging to the middle class, would feel the pinch. Burdening the urban consumer further was not justified at all, he said.

AP Singh Chatha, president, Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (Civil Lines), pointed out that on the one hand, the state government had announced a power tariff of Rs 5 per unit for the industry, which is a welcome boost, on the other hand, the PSERC had increased the electricity tax from 8.50 per cent to 10.50 per cent for the commercial consumer. This was a real jolt the hotel industry.

“The only surviving industry in Punjab is tourism industry and the increase in power tariff would prove to be a failure of the Punjab Government,” he pointed out.

Anuradha Bhardwaj, a housewife, expressing her anguish said the people voted the Congress to power in the hope that it would understand the problems of urban people. However, such decisions would hit the urban people hard, as they would disturb their monthly budgets.

“Already the 2 per cent municipal tax inside the city or the town limits is unjustifiable and now the hike in electricity rates. The government has proved that it has little concern for the urban people, who were a strong vote base of the Congress. This is a cruel joke at a time when the government is claiming that the state is power surplus,” she said.