Power tariff in Chhattisgarh lower than Delhi

Raipur, January 10

Despite Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government giving 50 percent subsidy on electricity tariff for households consuming up to 400 units of power per month, the tariff rates for domestic consumers in Chhattisgarh is much lower. In his speech on vote of thanks to Governor’s address in State assembly, CM Raman Singh revealed that State’s consumers would have to incur heavy financial loss if the government adopts Delhi model of subsidised power tariff.

Ever since AAP fulfilled its poll promise of slashing power tariff in Delhi, the opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh has been demanding from ruling BJP to follow Arvind Kejriwal-formula and give financial respite to State consumers.

However, CM Singh refused to accept this demand terming it impractical and pointing that State consumers were already paying less than their counterparts in Delhi and any change in current tariff policy would only put extra burden on them.

In Chhattisgarh, while the below poverty line (BPL) consumers pay Rs 126 on consumption of 100 units of power, their Delhi counterparts will have to pay Rs 235 after announcement of 50 percent tariff cut.

Similarly, general domestic consumers in Chhattisgarh pay Rs 210 and Rs 450 on consumption of 100 and 200 units of power respectively, their Delhi counterparts will have to shell out Rs 427 and Rs 529 for equal number of units consumed.

During constitution of Chhattisgarh State, the domestic consumers were paying Rs two per unit above 600 units of power consumption and generation cost was 99 paise per unit. At present, the domestic tariff has reached to Rs five per unit above 600 units of power consumption and generation cost has increased to Rs three per unit. In last ten years, the State government revised power tariff six times and each time the consumer was compelled to shell out extra buck.

Last year, Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL) again proposed tariff hike to Chhattisgarh state electricity regulatory commission (CSERC).

The Congress opposed the move and alleged that the government wanted to benefit private power producers by doing so. It further charged that CSPDCL was at loss due to grafts prevailed in the system and mismanagement and the government aimed to compensate it by hiking electricity rates.

Pointing that the State had abundant coal and water for power production, the opposition also slammed CSPDCL for proposing tariff hike and asked it to furnish logical reason behind its move. The government eventually buckled down, although an apparent reason behind its retraction was nearing assembly polls.

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report for financial year 2012-13 indicates of massive grafts and scams in energy department. The CSPDCL alone incurred loss of Rs 1567 crore.

The Congress says the power company incurred such amount of loss because it gave mining and exploration job of Parsa coal block to ineligible Adani group owned by Gautam Adanai, who is said to be closed to BJP’s PM candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. The Centre had allocated the coal block to CSPDCL for personal use.

Chhattisgarh is one of the highest power producing states in the country. It has PSUs like National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). It has maximum number of private power plants for which the government acquired large tracts of agricultural and non-agricultural lands. The opposition says due to establishment of too many power plants, the people are forced to live in polluted environment, however, they are getting electricity at high rate.