Goan Industries cry at ‘pathetic’ distribution of power
Rs 1.2 per unit charged without each and every everyone on board; Poor quality of power has made industries suffer from electronic assets getting damaged
Team Herald
PANJIM: The levying of additional charges in power bills has not gone well with the high tension and extra high tension industrial consumers even as the government claimed that it was agreed by the industry associations to overcome load shedding in April.
Most of the HT and EHT consumers have received inflated bills with the inclusion of additional charges at Rs 1.20 per unit. Most industry owners complained that they have received
additional charges between Rs 1-3 lakhs or more
Even though the majority of the industry agreed to pay an extra Rs.1.20 per unit at a high cost in order to help the state government to purchase power from the open market to cater to the needs of the industry, the majority of the industry received a rude shock for the low quality or power and distribution in Goa.
Senior members of the Industry said electrical apparatus had got damaged and businesses suffered losses due to bad quality power.
Industry bodies like the Goa Chambers of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Goa State Industries Association (GSIA), and Goa Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (GPMA) had agreed before the state government that for two months ending June this year they were willing to pay extra for the time when it is peak summer and power is drawn maximum in the state.
Stephen Fernandes, the chief electrical engineer said that in April the power purchased in the open market was as high as Rs 20 per unit till the Central Energy Regulatory Commission (CERC) asked power trading exchanges to cap the spot price at Rs 12 per kWh.
“Additional charges have been levied after industry associations permitted the government to purchase power at a high rate so that there was no load shedding for them during the summer season. If the government could not bear the power losses and load shedding was inevitable, if the industry did not pay”, he said.
According to Fernandes, there are 800 to 1200 industries, that have billed with additional charges up to May 24 this year.
Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar said that “additional charges have been levied after industry associations permitted the government to purchase power at a high rate so that there was no load shedding for them during the summer season. He said if the government could not bear the power losses and load shedding was inevitable if industry did not pay.”
A member of both the GSIA and Verna Industries Association Blaise Costabir said that “The quality of power is a suspect but the problem is the distribution. So even if you bring in more power the distribution is the issue. This issue is been used as an excuse that there is no power and they are complaining. The major problem is in the distribution. In fact, the industry is paying higher so the private domestic people get the subsidised rate but when there is a real shortage of power the state government first puts us off.”
President of the VIA Pradip Da Costa said that “initially there was some resistance but finally everyone agreed to pay extra to get quality of power but the issue is that incoming power seems fine but distribution is pathetic. So finally it does not help. There are so much of power failures happening now and then. It is not due to incoming shortages. It is all because of bad distribution. People are resenting now saying ‘what is the use of paying extra if we are undergoing the same issues.”
Sources in the Pharmaceutical industry in Goa on condition of anonymity said that “we all agreed as usage of generators during long hours if power cuts would have cost us a minimum of Rs 30-50 per unit It was a matter of two months only. It was agreed by 80-90 per cent of the industry.”
Secretary of GSIA Kiran Sirsat said that “Although we are paying higher electricity tariff with the consent of all the industries the still the power supply what we get is highly inconsistent and there are a number of power ‘failures’. There seems to be a problem in distribution.”
