Ranchi, Sept. 3: Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) chairman V.N. Pandey today said the board would not appeal against the new tariff order issued by Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC) on August 31.

“We fully agree with the regulatory commission that inefficient costs of the state electricity board should not be loaded on our consumers. Instead, JSEB intends to direct all our efforts at sprucing up our operational efficiency, raise monthly bill collections and cut down drastically on power thefts,” Pandey told The Telegraph.

Insiders have expressed great displeasure about JSERC for rejecting the demands of the JSEB, which had proposed an across the board hike in tariff rates by Re 1 to Rs 2 for all categories of consumers to meet rising operational costs as well as to generate surplus funds for capacity addition.

Instead, according to the tariff order issued by JSERC, industrial and commercial power rates were slashed by 20 paise per unit, while rural tariff and domestic tariff for consumers using up to 200 units per month were left unchanged.

Rates for domestic consumers using up to 200 units per month have been left unchanged though those consuming up to 400 units a month would be required to pay an additional five paise per unit.

The new power tariff came into effect from September 1. Pandey pointed out the only remedy lay in a more professional functioning by power officials and employees. Power thefts, which account for the major portion of transmission and distribution losses, need to be curtailed in the short run and rooted out completely in future.

Unless we cut down on thefts and raise monthly bill collections, JSEB cannot hope to survive in a competitive world. “We are already on the job of bringing in more and more units at the Patratu thermal power station in operation. Three units have already been made operational,” Pandey stressed.