FKCCI President J R Bangera said: “We never thought the fixed charges would be hiked. It is very unfortunate that the power hike has come when there is an economic crisis.”
Its former president, S S Birader, condemned the tariff hike stating that the Electricity Supply Companies and the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) had failed to supply quality and adequate quantity of power.
“We are not worried about paying more for power, but there is no quality,” he said.
The increased tariff will be a burden as labour charges and VAT would also increase consequently.
FKCCI Energy Committee Chairman M G Prabhakar said 60 per cent of the small industries use less than one thousand units a month and have less than 10 hp capacity. The fixed charges will be a burden on them as they have to bear the brunt of frequent power cuts as well as load-shedding.
Published 30 October 2011, 18:24 IST