Mysuru: Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) Mysuru has sought a tariff hike of Rs 1.48 per unit for all categories of consumers.In the petition before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), corporation managing director D Kiran has asked for 24.91 percent increase in tariff for financial year (FY) 2018. The current tariff a consumer of CESC pays is an average of Rs 5.94 per unit.At the public hearing meeting held by KERC chairman MK Shankarlinge Gowda at the DC office on Wednesday, regarding the revision of retail supply of tariff for 2018, CESC managing director Kiran said that there will be a revenue deficit of Rs 962.93 crore for the FY 2018 and hence the revision of tariff is essential and therefore an increase in tariff of 148 paise per unit is proposed across all categories of consumers.Claiming that the corporation is providing best service to its consumers, Kiran said that electricity distribution loss which was 15.48 percent in 2010 was brought down to 13.34 percent by December 2016. The failure of transformers had come down as transformer banks have been opened in 51 rural sub divisions and arrangements made to distribute 800 new transformers every year.As per direction from the state government to provide electricity to all un-electrified habitations, CESC under the decentralized distributed generation (DDG) scheme has taken up off grid electrification for six un-electrified villages and 60 hamlets covering 2,772 households. Out of six un-electrified villages, two villages have been electrified and out of 60 hamlets, four hamlets have been electrified. By March-end, all the villages and hamlets will be electrified, he said.Kiran said that CESC has introduced 'Smart Grid Pilot Project' under PPP model which covers 10 percent of total consumers in Mysuru city. This project will reduce price escalation, assure reliable power supply, improve security features to prevent electrical hazards, billing and pricing information will be delivered to customers through SMS, email, consumer portal and others.Around 40,000 applications have been registered through 'Web portal and PGRS application', through 'Revenue management system' all the services like billing, mobile applications are done.Meanwhile, projects like 'Distribution transformer life cycle management software (DTLMS)' to monitor transformer and 'Material Management Solution (MMS)' for web-based solutions and 'Maintenance of Financial Accounting Management and other Software Modules' will be introduced in coming days, he said. "With all the services provided to consumers, the CESC is demanding Rs 1.48 per unit which will not be a burden," he said.No takers for proposal to hike chargesThe proposal to hike power tariff met with stiff opposition from consumers. Everybody including industrial associations and farmers unions said that industries, agriculture and the common man had been affected by drought and demonetization and a hike in power charges will make the situation worse.South Western Railway DEE Sagayam Mani Raju citing article 287 of the Constitution said that as railways is a public utility and essential part of transport infrastructure, it should be exempted from the proposed tariff hike. "SWR has paid Rs 30.49 crore upto December 2016 towards traction bill which is one of the highest in Indian Railways. The repeated increase in tariff will affect the organization which is serving the nation with social obligations. There are several ongoing electrification projects in the state which will get impacted badly due to such regular hikes.""From more than 50 years, the three railway stations - Siribagalu,Yedekumari and Kadagaravalli - which is between Sakaleshwara and Subramanya there is electricity. There are also 58 tunnels between the stretch. We are using generators for stations as well railway quarters. CESC should take up supplying electricity to the places," he said.KIADB Industrial Area Manufacturers Association (KIAMA) president Sudhakar Shetty and vice president K Ravindra Prabhu , too, objected strongly to the proposal.Mysore Industries Association (MIA) secretary Suresh Kumar Jain said that small industries have been hit hard by drought and demonetization. "KERC should bring separate tariff for small industries similar to the model adopted in Gujarat. The commission should not allow the tariff to increase more than 20 paisa," he said.Meanwhile, the Bharathiya Kissan Sangha head MR Ranganatha said that the commission should issue direction to CESC to effective control on its operation to reduce cost. "This loss cannot be shifted to consumers including farmers. The distribution loss is more which should be borne by CESC and not by farmers or customers. The 150 percent hike by CESC to IP sets and lift irrigation schemes is unscientific and cannot be accepted, so the proposal should be rejected," he said. Farmers from Madkeri, members of Mysuru Electrical Contractors Association, Kodava Samaja, Aam Admi Party, general public who participated in the meeting too opposed the proposed hike.

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