Power tariff hike for industries ranging from Rs 0.87 a unit to Rs 1.12 a unit is steep said the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Mr V.S.Raju, President of FAPCCI, said while the tariff increase is 21 per cent to 33.67 per cent, the supply cost has gone up by 4.35 per cent only as per the data presented by distribution companies.
The chamber said that the industry consumes 35 per cent of the power but pays 60 per cent of the cost. Thus, the industry is subsidising some categories of consumers. But such cross-subsidy has adverse economic impact on the people and the economy. The cost of goods and services will increase by about 1 per cent to 5 per cent.
The industry is already paying several taxes and levies to the Government and burdening the industry further with higher price hikes in power is not warranted, it felt.
The industry has been faced with 40-60 per cent power cuts when the power shortage is barely 10-15 per cent. The chamber contended that the move is counter-productive and would impact overall growth.