Kiran does a miserly rollback

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Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday announced what can only be called a meagre rollback in power tariffs which according to him, would provide major relief to 44.5 lakh consumers. Benefit has been given to consumers with connected load of more than 500 watt but who consume less than 100 units of power every month. Consumers in this category will save Rs 57 each month thanks to the rollback.

The government, on the other hand, will bear an additional subsidy of Rs 175 crore towards the rollback, quite less when compared to the overall burden of Rs 4,500 crore on consumers due to the tariff hike. The Chief Minister announced the partial rollback at a press conference that he held along with nine ministers, apparently to ward off criticism that his Cabinet was divided over the tariff hike. He defended the hike stating that the input costs in generation, the power purchase cost as well as the cost to serve had increased manifold against the zero hike in tariff since 2004.

Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy had earlier discussed with energy officials the possibilities of reducing the burden. As per the Electricity Regulatory Commission orders, consumers with connected capacity of 500 watt and above should pay Rs 2.60 per unit even if they consumed below 100 units.