The North Odisha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCi) has strongly opposed the proposed tariff hike sought by the distribution company of the region Nesco.The NOCCi wants to bring the issue to the notice of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) which needs to be addressed by it “to save industries from ruin”.
According to NOCCi, the Nesco has appealed to the OERC to increase the existing tariff by 40 per cent so that it can meet losses, which is mostly occurring due to its own fault.The increase will be a burden on the industries and hence the proposal should be rejected outright, it demanded.
Quoting Gridco’s recent clarification that the water level in all reservoirs is more than normal, the industry body pointed out that hydro power should be available at cheaper rate. The OERC should ask Gridco to buy cheaper power from the national grid so that the burden on consumers would be reduced.
Similarly, it suggested that State Government revert to the earlier rate of 0.10p per unit to cushion the blow on the consumers.
Commenting on OHPC proposal for tariff hike, the NOCCi said the OERC should reduce the purchase tariff from OHPC and allow more units of power to be purchased from it so that the average cost of the power would be lowered.
We demand that the tariffs should be lowered as the industrial growth is witnessing a declining trend.The lessened power tariff will be helpful to steel and plastic industries which are unable to withstand competition due to high energy costs, it said.