Agartala, Sep 26, 2023, TRIPURA TIMES Desk
Agartala, Sept 26: Minister for Power Ratanlal Nath on Tuesday said that the power tariff was hiked in the state by 7 percent following an unabated rise in gas’ price in international level.
Addressing a press conference at the secretariat, he said, the Regulatory Commission had taken the decision to hike the power tariff after consultation with all stakeholders.
Nath said, there is no scope for increasing the power tariff secretly; there are certain norms. The Regulatory Commission mainly defines the tariff in the whole country.
“An advertisement was issued in the media inviting opinions on the tariff revision. Tripura Electricity Consumer Association, ILS Hospital and Dr. BRAM Teaching Hospital among six organizations had raised objections before the Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission,” Nath told the reporters.
He continued, “The decision on power tariff revision was taken followed by a hearing conducted by the State Advisory Commission. The state government or the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited had no connection with it.”
Giving more details, he said the TSECL was formed in 2005 and the Regulatory Commission had increased the power tariff next year. Besides, there was a hike in power tariff by 46.09 percent in 2010-11, 7.75 percent increase in 2012-13, 40.45 percent hike in 2013-14 and 5.83 percent increase in 2014-15.
“There was a total 134 percent hike in the power tariff during the tenure of the Left government from 2006-07 to 2014-15. The hike is only 7 percent during the present government’s tenure,” the Power minister said.
In another important point, Nath said, there would be a 5 percent concession on the total electricity bill if paid within 15 days. In that case, the concession would be 15 percent for the tea gardens.
He also said, the newly-formed Tripura Power Transport Regulatory has already undertaken several works to improve the electricity services.
Director of TSECL (Finance) Sarvajit Singh Dogra, general manager (transmission) Ranjan Debbarma and DGM (commercial) Sujata Sarkar were also present in the press conference.