Cuttack, July 6: Orissa High Court today rejected the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission’s petition seeking discontinuance of interim order imposing restriction on collection of enhanced tariff from the domestic consumers.

The commission filed a petition on June 27. It expressed apprehensions that the Orissa government might consider withdrawing the subsidy of Rs 108 crore, if the interim stay continued.

The consumers were paying at the pre-revised rate of 140 paise per unit, which was lower than the government-subsidised rate of 200 paise per unit.

The advanced subsidy of Rs 108 crore had enabled the commission to order a rebate of 150 paise per unit for the domestic consumers in the consumption slab of 51-100 units per month.

The stay order since March 31 had already resulted in accumulated under recovery of Rs 353.57 crore at the rate of Rs 117.79 crore per month from the consumers and the “present interim stay order now accumulates under-recovery of Rs 18.6 crore per month so long as it continues”.

“In the long-term perspective, the commission will face insurmountable difficulties in tariff setting for the current and subsequent years,” the petition contended.

However, the division bench of Justice B.P. Das and Justice B.K. Mishra expressed disinclination to allow the commission’s petition and adjourned hearing on the enhanced power tariff till tomorrow. While issuing an interim order on a PIL, the high court on March 31 issued a stay order on the commission’s order enhancing power tariff for 2011-2012 from April 1.

On June 22, the high court modified the interim order and left it open for the distribution companies to collect the revised tariff from commercial and industrial consumers. “But, the revised tariff shall not be collected from the domestic consumers,” the modified order said.

Initially, a PIL was filed by the Keonjhar Navanirman Parishad, the Federation of Consumer Organisations, Orissa, and one consumer, Arun Kumar Sahoo.

Subsequently, analogous hearing on the PIL along with two other petitions were filed by the Utkal Chamber of Commerce representing 239 business houses in the state and Rohit Ferrotech Ltd of Kalinganagar industrial complex.