Patna,(BiharTimes): The Bihar Industries Association (BIA) is opposed to the hike in power tariff proposed by the electricity distribution companies to the Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC).
The BERC has announced public hearings at Muzaffarpur on February 17, Bhagalpur on February 20, Purnea on February 21, Gaya on February 23 and Patna on February 27 and 28 for seeking objections and suggestions from general public and consumers on the tariff hike proposals.
The proposals have been made by the North Bihar Power Distribution Company and the South Bihar Power Distribution Company for the year 2017-18.
But the president of BIA Ram Lall Khetan is of the view that the rate should not be hiked as the purchase cost of power has come down due to reduction in prices of coal and availability of low-cost power from energy exchange in recent years.
According to him the power companies can further reduce the cost through proper quality control and theft check. The transmission infrastructure is in poor condition, which causes huge losses in transmission of electricity.
To buttress his point he said the national average of transmission and distribution losses is 14% while it is 46% in Bihar. The BERC has been repeatedly asking the discom companies to bring down distribution losses by 2% every year. Instead it increased from 40% to 46% in last one decade.
Referring to transmission and distribution losses BIA vice-president Sanjay Bharatiya, said the power companies should be held accountable for their inefficiency.
