JOIN US'Dismiss plea on tariff revision'
During the hearing, the Consumer Care Society (CCS), in its objections said that the tariff revision is not necessary as the water situation had improved. The Consumer Care Society said that Bescom, which had filed its annual revenue requirement during the days of crisis, must change it now following the availability of water.
Ashwath Narayana, president, CCS said that if Bescom procures more of hydel power it need not go for costly alternatives. “Let them purchase 5169 million units of hydel power, then there will be a gap of just 796 million units and the cost that they require is just Rs 519 crore,” he said.
He sought directions from the regulatory commission to prevent Bescom from going for short term purchase. During the hearing, R Nagraj Setty, Honourary President, Karnataka State Electricity Consumers Forum (KSECF) has sought a direction to conduct and complete the energy auditing meticulously, recover all dues and ensure proper metering and to eliminate cross subsidy over a period of time.
Assessment a failure
Setty, who made a detailed submission said that Bescom has failed to assess the consumption of IP sets. He said that the company which is going for new projects every time is leading them to loss, which cannot be passed on to the consumers.
On the transformer failure submitted by Bescom, the KSECF said that the failure should not be more than three per cent, but the nine per cent figure submitted by Bescom shows that it is a bad management practice.
Seeking to dismiss the petition, the forum sought directions to fix meters with load survey records as per directions of Central Electricity Authority as it is required to mark the flow of energy in network.
Earlier Bescom managing director in his presentation spoke of various upgradation works and consumer friendly measures taken to supply quality power.
KERC won’t hear green cess plea
The KERC has refused to hear the proposal on green cess proposed by the Escoms. During the hearing, Chairman K P Pandey said that the commission will not hear about the cess. Later, speaking to the media, Chairman Pandey said that the Commission cannot do anything regarding the green cess as well as the service tax. “Taxation and related matters can be decided only by the Government,” he said.
It may be recalled that the KPTCL had sought to allow tariff revision, stating that they have been covered under service tax and increase in transmission charges can do justice.
Pandey said that the hearing will continue till mid-October, with hearings being conducted in the respective company limits. He said that the hearing will conclude by 16 October, d the order will be out by 20 November, 2009.