The State Government on Thursday filed a review petition with the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for reconsidering the hike in power tariff for the agricultural sector.
Energy Minister Pranab Prakash told reporters, “Keeping in view the interests of farmers, the Government filed the petition to roll back the tariff hike and adjust the same by cross subsidising in the tariff order.” A decision to file the petition was taken as per the announcement made in the State Assembly recently, he added.
The OERC had on March 24 announced the new electricity tariff for the 2015-16 financial year, hiking the tariff by 20 paise per unit for consumers in the domestic category while increasing tariff for the farming sector by 40 paise per unit, the first hike in 15 years. Bowing down to the Opposition’s demand on March 30, the Energy Minister had announced in the Assembly that the Government would file a review petition with the OERC.