Karnataka - Gulbarga   

ESCOMs overcharged consumers: KERC

GULBARGA: Chairman of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) K.P. Pandey on Monday said that a review of accounts of all the electricity supply companies in the State revealed that they had collected Rs. 1,632 crore in excess from consumers between 2003 and 2007.

Mr. Pandey, who was here to review the functioning of the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM), told presspersons that GESCOM alone had collected Rs. 312 crore in excess from consumers.

No electricity company had challenged these findings by the commission, he said. They were free to appeal to prove otherwise.

Defending the reduction in the tariff charged by the electricity supply companies in the State, Mr. Pandey said the commission consciously took this decision to return the excess amount collected to the consumers in phases. Mr. Pandey said that the commission had decided to return this excess amount collected by the electricity supply companies in three years.

This was the reason for the commission extending the benefit of tariff reduction to all the categories of consumers.

Referring to the delay in the State Government reimbursing the electricity supply companiesfor subsidised power supplied to the irrigation pumpsets and Bhagya Jyothi and Kutira Jyothi beneficiaries, Mr. Pandey said the electricity companies should be reimbursed in advance in the first month of every quarter.

Mr. Pandey said if the State Government failed to reimburse the companies in advance, they had the power to collect the dues from the beneficiaries of subsidised power without waiting for the State Government to release the funds.

He said that the State Government had to reimburse over Rs. 2,700 crore to the electricity companies.

Mr. Pandey said that the overall functioning of the electricity companies had improved and revenue collection had also gone up.

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