Jaya announces partial roll back of power tariff

CHENNAI: Bowing to opposition demand, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today announced partial roll back in the power tariff hike benefi ting about 1.5 crore families in the domestic consumer segment. Making a statement under Rule 110 in the state Assembly, Ms Jayalalithaa eased the burden on domestic consumers, who were impacted by the steep hike, by providing an additional subsidy of Rs 740 crore to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). With this, the total subsidy component to TNEB this year went up to Rs 4294.16 crore. With the provision of the additional Rs 740 crore subsidy, the power tariff for domestic consumers would come down to Rs one from Rs 1.10 for those consuming 100 units for two months. She said for domestic consumers consuming upto 200 units for two months the tariff had been revised from Rs 1.80 to Rs 1.50. “For those domestic consumers consuming 500 units in two months, the tariff was reduced to Rs two for the fi rst 200 units and Rs three from 201 to 500 units. While effecting the hike last week, the Tamilnadu Electricity Regulatory Commission had announced upward revision in tariff to Rs three for fi rst 200 units and Rs 3.50 for 201 to 500 units respectively. After TNERC announced a 37 per cent hike in power tariff last week to mobilise additional revenue of Rs 7,874 crore and pulled the TNEB from the red, the Jayalalithaa government faced severe criticism from various political parties. The main opposition DMDK, DMK, PMK and the VCK have announced agitations against the government to condemn the hike in power tariff, which came close on the heels of the government hiking the bus fare and milk prices. Noting that people’s interests were the foremost priority for her government, Ms Jayalalithaa announced the partial roll back in power tariff, which was greeted with thumping of desks by the ruling AIADMK members. She said though the government did not have the powers to withdraw the hike as it was announced by the TNERC, keeping the people’s interest in mind, she announced additional subsidy to ease the burden of the common man. Ms Jayalalithaa accused the previous DMK regime of pushing the TNEB into a debt trap and said her government was taking all steps to increase power generation and resurrect the fi nancial health of the TNEB. Earier, the opposition DMDK and the DMK staged a walk out from the Tamil Nadu Assembly on the issue after Speaker D Jayakumar denied permission for them to raise the issue.