CHENNAI: Pointing out that the recent power tariff hike was unavoidable and was necessitated by the precarious fiscal position of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday announced partial rollback of the hike for domestic consumers to the tune of Rs 740 crore benefiting about 1.5 crore families. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) on March 30 announced the tariff hike to net an additional income of Rs 7,874 crore for the TNEB.Giving details of the rollback in the tariff, the CM said for those who consume 100 units in two months, the tariff would be reduced from Rs 1.10 to Rs 1. Similarly, for those who consume 200 units in two months, the charge would be cut from Rs 1.80 to Rs1.50. For those who consume power up to 500 units in two months, the charge would be brought down from Rs 3 to Rs 2 for the first 200 units and for units 201 to 500, the rate would be reduced from Rs 3.50 to Rs 3.Announcing this in the State Assembly under Rule 110 during Zero Hour, Jayalalithaa said the reduction in power tariff has been done accepting the representations from the public stating that poor and middle class families would be overburdened by the hike.The principal opposition party DMDK, along with the DMK and the CPM, staged a walk-out as they were not allowed to raise the power tariff hike issue during question hour ahead of the CM’s announcement on the partial rollback under Rule 110.Despite the recent hike, the tariff in Tamil Nadu was much less than many States in the country, the CM pointed out, and added that since the government had no powers to cut the tariff, it would pay the Rs 740 crore as subsidy to the TNEB.
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