Subodh Sharma, president of the Mahanagar Unnayan Samity in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, May 19: The Mahanagar Unnayan Samity, Guwahati, has opposed a proposal by the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) to hike power tariff alleging that “mismanagement” by the company has forced consumers to pay more over the years.

“Loadshedding has become a daily affair now. To cite an example, in the year 2009-10, against a purchase of 5253.36 million units of energy as approved by the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC), the distribution company bought 4989.76 million units only, thus making power cuts inevitable. The average cost of energy proposed to be purchased was fixed at Rs 1.76 per unit whereas less amount of energy was procured at a higher price of Rs 2 per unit, putting the burden of the extra cost on consumers,” the president of the Samity, Subodh Sharma, told reporters here today.

The Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (Finer) had also opposed the APDCL proposal, terming it a steep hike in the average tariff that would result in a per unit rate of Rs 7.87, Rs 7.84 and Rs 7.73 for the years 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 respectively, from the approved Rs 5.65 per unit average tariff for 2012-13.

In a petition to the commission recently, the Samity, while urging the commission to keep the tariff unchanged, alleged that the APDCL had failed to meet the energy demands of the consumers.

“Power is now treated like a market commodity. The state’s energy requirement in 2012-13 was 6023.96 million units of energy, but only 28.38 per cent of this is self-generated. The balance has to be procured from various central sector agencies. Despite such an energy purchase programme, which was approved by the AERC, the power distribution company has failed to supply load to consumers, resulting in power cuts,” Sharma said.

The Samity, while suggesting a pragmatic energy procurement plan, further alleged that general consumers are deprived of uninterrupted power supply despite payment of an enhanced tariff.

“We have two sets of consumers — the privileged and the general. On the one hand, there is a massive shortage of electricity for general consumers and on the other the APDCL has ensured uninterrupted supply to Dispur Complex, IAS Colony and bungalows of government officials and judges in various district headquarters of the state. The power consumption by such VIPs is hardly metered. Such discrimination is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution,” Sharma said.

Sharma said in the past couple of years, a huge amount of money has been spent on system improvement under schemes in order to enhance distribution capacity and reduce transmission and distribution losses. “However, actual cost-benefit assessment of these schemes has not been quantified. APDCL prepared these projects based on hypothetical calculations,” he alleged.

The citizens’ body said the distribution company has allotted work of the Jawaharnagar substation to a “favoured” contractor at a high rate without calling a tender. “There have been incidents of manipulations in the tendering process. We seek a thorough independent inquiry by the Bureau of Investigation (Economic Offences), the state government or the CBI,” Sharma said.