Column

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has given the go-ahead for power tariffs to be raised in Karnataka.

Although at an average hike of 28 paise per unit is substantially lower than the 88 paise per unit sought by the electricity supply companies (Escoms), the increase will end up punching a hole in the pockets of citizens. But the more important point than whether the hike hurts the household budget or not is the issue of uninterrupted supply of power.

The common complaint of an average consumer is this: “Why should I pay more for suffering intermittent power cuts?”

And then there are the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, which stand an unacceptable 22% - this basically means that over one-fifth of the electricity supplied and distributed is unaccounted for. The Escoms seek KERC’s nod for a tariff hike to meet their revenue requirements. What if they focused on trimming the T&D losses instead? Mumbai did it for six consecutive years from late nineties — there was no tariff hike and yet the power utilities showed profits.

Power supply companies all over India seek a hike in tariff citing the increasing cost of procuring electricity. While that might be true, it speaks volumes of the government’s near-sightedness.

The crisis over Telangana amply demonstrated how the state has not planned for a contingency even though it knows that it seldom gets its fair share from the central grid. Karnataka needs to lay more stress on developing alternative energy sources to bolster the conventional hydel and thermal sources to ensure that consumers enjoy uninterrupted power supply.

For an agriculture-dependent state like Karnataka with a power-hungry city like Bangalore, it is imperative that the power infrastructure is upgraded, losses be trimmed to acceptable levels and a policy be put in place to address future demand. Tariff hike alone won’t pull us out of the dark ages.