Minister flayed for proposing nearly 52 pc tariff hike

MADURAI: People could hardly bear the burden of the unprecedented hike in electricity tariff proposed by the state government, said AIADMK MLA RB Udhayakumar (Tirumangalam) here on Tuesday.

Condemning the hike, he said Tamil Nadu has never witnessed such a huge increase in electricity consumption charges, which is up almost by 52 per cent as per the proposed rates and the consumers during the public hearing convened at Chennai had unanimously opposed the proposed hike.

At a time when the general public and several other sections of the society were slowly recovering from the impact of COVID, the government’s move to hike the electricity tariff has come as a rude shock.

Despite pressure from the Centre for the increase in electricity tariff, the erstwhile AIADMK regime led by Edappadi K Palaniswami did not implement it to avoid burdening the consumers, he told reporters. During 2018, a consumer had to pay only Rs 7,450 for a three–phase electricity connection, but in the present DMK government, the rate has been proposed to be hiked to Rs 54,000. Among the consumers, most of the households normally consume between 400 and 500 units and the proposed revision of costs would affect them badly. Those consuming 500 units of electricity would have to pay Rs 1,725.

Similarly, the industrial sector, especially the MSME sector would suffer the worst if the hike takes effect at the same proposed level. While criticising Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji for the steep upward revision, the AIADMK MLA said that the Minister without knowing the ground realities was making comparisons with other states and justifying the hike.