Electricity tariff hiked in Kerala, opposition cries foul

Thiruvananthapuram, July 8 (IANS) Acting on the request of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday hiked the electricity charges across all segments of consumers, with the domestic sector feeling the pinch of hike to the extent of as high as 11.4 per cent.

Addressing media here, Commission chairman Preman Dinaraj said that there will be no increase of those consumers who use 40 units or less per month and besides there would be no hike for those in the below poverty line category.

"Those who use 100 units a month will see their bill go up from Rs 345 to Rs 387 and those consuming 200 units will see their bill go up by Rs 97... in the 500 unit category, it would go up by Rs 250," he said.

Dinaraj said this hike would come into effect from Monday and it would be for the next three years.

The last time the tariff was raised was in 2017.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala termed the hike "a slap on the face of the people of Kerala".

"Approximately the hike would be in the range of Re 0.40 per unit and this could have been easily avoided had the KSEB taken steps to recover the Rs 3,000 crore pending bills from various consumers including state government bodies," he said.

But defending the hike, senior CPI-M leader A. Anandan said that despite the hike, the tariff in Kerala continues to be the lowest among other states.

"The outstanding bills of public utilities has turned out to be a burden for the common man. But then there is no other option," he said.