UP Power Consumer’s Forum alleged that Chairman of UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) was under pressure from the state government to announce tariff order for the 2017-18 fiscal by the end of the month.
Chairman of UPERC, Desh Deepak Verma was appointed as Secretary General of Rajya Sabha and the appointment of the retired IAS officer was confirmed on Friday. Verma is likely to join the new assignment on September 1 and would be resigning from Commission by the end of this month. His term with the regulatory body ends on June 18, 2018.
Seeking a hefty hike of over 22 percent in tariff for all categories of consumers, UP Power Corporation limited (UPPCl) had filed Annual Revenue Requirement before the power regulator on August 8. In turn, the regulator raised several queries which the Corporation is required to rply before the tariff is finalized by the regulator.
An office bearer of Power Consumer Forum said that the state government was mounting pressure on Desh Deepak Verma to announce the tariff order before he demits office. He said that as per provisions in Electricity Regulatory Commission Act, the regulator is required to hold public hearing with various stake holders in power sector before finalizing the tariff and claims and objections are filed by various categories during the public hearing. He said that the process of finalizing the tariff order takes at least six months.
Terming the government putting pressure on Verma as unethical, the office bearer said that the UPPCl has not answered to queries raised by the power regulator on the ARR statement seeking tariff hike.