PANAJI
Even as the Electricity Department attempted to justify a proposed 3.48 per cent hike in power tariffs, consumers and political opponents voiced their strong objections during a Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (JERC) hearing held in Panaji on Monday.
If approved, the tariff hike will be effective from April 1, 2024, and it will be the third such increase in the past three years. All eyes are now on the JERC’s second meeting in South Goa on Tuesday.
The first hearing at the Institute Menezes Braganza saw Chief Electricity Engineer Stephen Fernandes detailing a 6 percent tariff hike for domestic consumers in the first two consumption slabs -- 0-100 and 101-200 units. An overall hike of 3.48 percent has been proposed as he claimed that around 4 lakh consumers in the State fall within the 0-200 units bracket.
The proposal includes a hike in energy charges for various consumption categories, ranging from 0-100 to consumption above 400 units, along with increases for commercial, industrial, hotel, and agricultural consumers, public lighting, hoardings, signboards, and electric vehicle charging stations.
“The department has proposed a hike in energy charges of low tension domestic consumers from Rs 1.75/kWh to Rs 1.88/kWh for 0-100 units (12 paise hike), from Rs 2.6 to Rs 2.79/kWh (19 paise rise) for consumption between 101-200 units, from Rs 3.3/kWh to Rs 3.7/kWh for consumption between 201-300 units (40 paise hike), from Rs 4.4/kWh to Rs 4.9/kWh between 301-400 units (50 paise hike) and from Rs 5.1/kWh to Rs 5.8/kWh per unit for consumption above 400 units (70 paise hike),” the proposal states.
In a petition to the JERC, the Electricity Department’s Net Annual Recurring Revenue for 2024-25 is estimated at Rs 3,057.5 crore, with existing tariff sales generating Rs 2,442.60 crore, resulting in a revenue gap of Rs 614.94 crore.
It further stated that despite a government commitment of Rs 414.73 crore, a balance gap of Rs 200.22 crore remains. “The proposed tariff hike on low-tension consumers is anticipated to yield an additional Rs 85 crore, while the Time of Day (ToD) tariff is expected to contribute another Rs 115.3 crore to the department’s revenue,” it added.
There was no power tariff hike for two years after the Covid-19 pandemic; however, from 2022-23, the department increased the electricity charges by adding additional streetlight duties.
GOACAN co-ordinator Roland Martins also opposed the hike saying we are yet to see concrete steps taken by the Electricity Department to control transmission losses, recovery of arrears and a crackdown of power theft going on in the illegal Tourism businesses.
