Kolkata, Apr 29: The hearing on the issue of power tariff began at calcutta high court today with an appellant alleging that state Electricity Regulatory Commision fixed the new rate after 'secretly' hearing private utility CESC Ltd. Appearing before Justice Samaresh Banerjee the appellant, West Bengal Rolling Mills Association's Suresh Agarwal, said the ERC 'surreptitiously' determined the tariff at Rs 3.90 per unit after hearing only CESC Ltd.


The ERC had fixed uniform tariff for domestic and commercial consumers in Kolkata area served by Cesc Ltd when it announced the new tariff as per the directive of the Supreme Court on December 16, 2002, abolishing cross-subsidy in tariff structure.

The order has also been challenged by the West Bengal state government which contended that cross subsidy in power tariff could be retained as per the ERC act.

"If the Supreme Court order dated October 3, 2002 had been implemented in its true spirit then the tariff would not have been more than Rs 2.80 per unit. The ERC ought to have heard consumers and then only fixed the tariff," Agarwal contended.
The state government had also said in its appeal that the commission had not applied the parameters provided in various sections of ERC act while fixing the tariff for the year 2001 and 2002 as per order of Supreme Court.
The hearing in the case would continue tomorrow when both Agarwal and the state government would submit their contentions in court.
Bureau Report