Summary:
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission OERC ) on Monday started public hearing on the pleas of power companies on electricity tariff revision for the year of 2018-19.On the first day of the hearing, two power generation companies—Odisha Hydropower Corporation (OHPC) and Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC)—kept their views before the commission. But now we are facing tariff hike due to lack of proper electricity management. "We cannot buy the stories of power companies about losses and infrastructure needs. Both of these companies urged the OERC to hike power tariff.Prabhakar Mohanty, director (finance) of OHPC, said they appealed to the commission to increase power generation tariff from 85.13 paisa to 98.57 paisa per unit to meet its increased expenditure. "Commission will hear all the requests and grievances of companies and consumer council members before taking any decision regarding the power tariff," said K L Panda, OERC secretary.Ramesh Satpathy, president of Electricity Consumers' Association, said they will urge the commission not to hike the power tariff..