Previous regime responsible for power tariff hike: Thangam Thennarasu

CHENNAI: State Electricity Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Tuesday squarely blamed the previous AIADMK regime for the power tariff hike given effect in the state recently and said that the principal opposition must own full responsibility for the power tariff hike.

Holding the AIADMK fully responsible for the power tariff hike, Thennarasu said that the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa categorically rejected it when the then union government insisted that all states must subscribe to the UDAY scheme and the DMK also opposed it.

“However, the then chief minister O Panneerselvam succumbed to pressure from above and subscribed to the scheme when Jayalalithaa was in hospital. The then state energy minister signed and joined the Uday scheme in 2017, which facilitated the annual hike in power tariff,” he reasoned, adding that under the tripartite agreement signed then, the AIADMK assured to annually hike the power tariff in the State.

Noting that the cumulative loss of Tangedco rose from Rs 18,954 crore in the DMK regime in 2011-12 to Rs 94,312 crore in the following ten-year AIADMK regime, the Minister said that the overall loss of Tangedco was Rs 1,13,266 crore when the DMK returned to power in 2021.

“Who is responsible for this? The AIADMK! After the DMK returned to power, the State took over the loss. The outstanding debt of Tangedco was Rs 43,493 crore since the previous AIADMK regime did not take over the loss, which tripled in the ten-year AIADMK regime to Rs 1,59,823 crore just before the DMK returned to power in 2021,” Thennarasu added.

Pointing out that the loan interest of Tangedco rose by 259% from Rs 4,588 crore in the 2011 DMK regime to Rs 16,511 crore in 2021, Thennarasu said that the previous in such a precarious situation, and one must realise that the current power tariff hike has been done only to compensate the loss.

Arguing that the marginal tariff hike would not affect one crore people and the state’s power tariff was lowest in TN compared to other states, the Minister said that the power tariff was hiked by 3.7, 3.57 and 16.33% in 2012, 2013, and 2014 in the previous AIADMK regime and the opposition party was organising protest after conveniently forgetting the hikes of the past.

Adding that the State government was providing share capital, subsidy and loans to improve the financial situation of Tangedco, the Minister said that about Rs 32,104 crore was provided to TNEB to compensate for the loss alone.

Faulting political parties for claiming that the tariff hike would fetch Rs 40,000 crore, the minister clarified that the hike would only fetch Rs 2,280 crore annually.