GUWAHATI, July 5 ? The Federation of Industries and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) has vehemently opposed the Assam State Electricity Board?s (ASEB) bid at a further power tariff hike. Representing the FINER at a hearing before the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) here today, former president and director of the FINER Abhijit Barooah made a fervent appeal to the Commission not to allow the ASEB to hike power tariff further.
Any permission to the ASEB to hike tariff further would jeopardise the industrial growth in this State, he argued. The petition of the FINER in opposition to the ASEB proposal for effecting a hike in power tariff referred to the failure of the Board to accomplish it obligation for supplying and distributing power efficiently as per the legal provisions. The Board is now bent on passing on the outcome of its inefficiency that resulted in high level of transmission and distribution loss, to the consumers through and exorbitant and unjustified hike in power tariff, it said.
The high cost on the employees and running the administration of the Board should be addressed to before the Board is allowed to burden the consumers with a new upward revision of its tariff, the FINER representation said. The FINER grounds in opposition to the ASEB proposal, included among others,? the Board was granted the authority to realise a tariff of Rs 4.12 per kwh for 2002-03, which is very high considering the quality and availability of power supply to the consumers.
Moreover, the Board does not abide by the guiding principle of the Electricity Act, 2003, which called for conducting the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity as per commercial principles, said the FINER in its representation. The ASEB could have saved a substantial amount doing away with purchase of power form other agencies had it made its non-operational units like the BTPS, operational. At present, the Board procures 78 per cent of the power required by the State, said the FINER.
The FINER petition also objected to the ASEB proposal to introduce a multi-year tariff setting formula. It argued that the multi-year tariff formula would be detrimental to the interest of the consumers since the inefficiency built into the proposed tariff rate would be reflected in future tariff rates year after year. The petition of the FINER also highlighted the need to restructure the tariff rates so as to encourage industrial consumers to shift the consumption from day to night. It also suggested, among others, incentive at the tariff structure so as to encourage industrial consumers to utilise power during off peak period.