Bhopal: For more than 25 lakh unmetered rural consumers of Madhya Pradesh, discoms have proposed to increase the power tariff by as much as 100%. This has been claimed by retired additional chief engineer of the energy department in his objection against the proposed power tariff hike before the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).

“Twelve per cent is only for saying, but if we see what has been proposed in the name of reforms, it comes to as much as 100% increase for the unmetered rural consumers of the state. As per the ARR, only central discom has informed that there are around 8 lakh unmetered rural connections, remaining two discoms have not informed, but roughly there are around 25 lakh unmetered rural consumers,” retired additional chief engineer of energy department, Rajendra Agarwal, told TOI.

He added, “As per the Electricity Act, it is the duty of the discoms to ensure meters for each and every consumer, thus being unmetered is not the fault of consumers. As per the existing rates, the rural unmetered consumers are divided into three slabs, those with load of 200W, those with load of upto 300 W and those above the load of 300W and upto 500 W, there are separate rates and now they have proposed to bring it to a common rate and each of these consumers will have to pay at the rate of Rs. 5.50 per unit. Normally, a consumer having load of upto 200 Watt only pays Rs 200 as per the existing rates, now he/she will have to pay Rs 466 per month.”

This is against the energy department's policy, which is aimed at the welfare of the poor rural population and such a decision should be taken with the government's approval, he added.

Besides, these the poorest of the shopkeepers who only consume upto 50 units per month, and were paying only Rs 380 per month. They will now have to pay Rs 480 per month, an increase of 24% in their monthly bill, he said.

The same has been done with the low tension industrial consumers, which includes the ‘atta chakki’ owners in rural areas, he said, adding that they are the lifeline of a rural life and economy. Till now, they only had to pay Rs 6,300 per month, but now they will have to pay Rs 7,822 per month, which will be an increase of 24%, he said.

“This will have a cascading effect on rural economy, like increase in wheat flour prices etc,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal has also written to the energy minister, alleging that the move to increase the power tariff of the rural poor and other consumers has been taken with an intention to damage the government's image among the masses.