PANAJI
As there was confusion about whether electricity prices have been hiked over a recent notification, the Chief Electrical Engineer has clarified that there is no hike in electricity charges.
"In fact, the bills for next quarter will be slightly less as compared to the previous quarter as Fuel and Power Purchase Cost Adjustment Formula (FPPCA) charges have been reduced by 39%," informed Chief Electrical Engineer Raghuvir Keni of Goa Electricity Department on Tuesday.
The Chief Electrical Engineer has said that the electricity tariff has not been hiked for the past 2 years, since 2019 adding that the variation in electricity bills is due to variation in FPPCA.
The department issued a gazette notification on Monday stipulating FPPCA charges for the 4th Quarter of FY 2020-21 (January 2021 to March 2021) to be levied for the energy consumption of April 2021 to June 2021.
As per the notification FPPCA charges for Domestic and Non-Commercial consumers for the first 100 units was specified as 5.52 paise per unit while for commercial use FPPCA charges were specified as 13.03 paise per unit for the first 100 units.
Before the clarification by the Chief Electrical Engineer, there was much criticism on the government due to price rise confusion on social media.
MLA Rohan Khaunte tweeted on it. "Mission accomplished! As planned the electric shock of 400% catches the CM's attention to my tweets! requesting @ Dr Pramod Sawant to respond just as promptly to may Proactive Covid suggestion tweets also", said Khaunte in his tweet.
While replying to this CM Pramod Sawant said in his tweet that "Dear @Rohan Khaunte, the rates are clearly mentioned in paisa per unit, which translates to less than 0.4% and not 400%. The proof of the same is in your tweet itself".
