The average increase of 30 to 35 paise per unit of power consumed with respect to BESCOM allowed by Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) would cast a heavy burden to all categories of consumers, said Sudhakar S Shetty, President of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI).

Reacting to the power price hike, Shetty said “the affect on economy as any increase in HT tariff would reflect on the selling price of raw materials namely iron, steel, forgings and castings which are primary input materials for all the engineering industries”. Industries are on downward trend with nearly one crore employees likely to be unemployed. “In such a situation, it is not advisable to hike the power tariff particularly for industrial and commercial category,” Shetty explained

The Federation has, as in past years, objected to any increase in tariff and highlighted with facts and figures that the proposed increase in tariff will not augur well for Industries of Karnataka. FKCCI’s request to create a separate category for MSMEs constituting both manufacturing and services has not been considered by the Commission. While higher tariff affects MSME manufacturing units and also service activities under MSME which fall under the commercial category and the cost of energy makes their operations unviable.

However, FKCCI has welcomed the continuation of special incentive scheme for HT Consumers for non-peak hours. Shetty said “The increase in power tariff comes on top of the nightmarish power outages suffered by the people of Karnataka. Despite assurances, unscheduled power cuts have become the order of the day. People have stopped believing in assurances that the power situation will improve.”

“Only when the BESCOM provide quality, reliable and continuous power supply as assured only then the increase in tariff is justifiable. The current increase in tariff does not augur well for increased industrialization in the State of Karnataka,” he added.

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