Waive off power bills for poor, SMEs: Congress to KCR

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday demanded that the State government waive off the electricity bills for the entire lockdown period for BPL families and SMEs. He also demanded appropriate reduction in bill amount for other consumers.

"We request you to kindly announce 100% waiver of electricity bills for the lockdown period for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. While the power bills of all White Ration card holders should be waived off completely, the bill amount for others should be reduced appropriately by rectifying all the mistakes in the billing method. Similarly, the power bills, including fixed, minimum and regular charges, of all Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) should also be waived off by 100% for the lockdown as they could not carry out any commercial activity during the lockdown period," Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded in an open letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the electricity bills given to consumers in the month of June were highly unjustified. They were not only inflated and exorbitant, but were prepared in an erroneous manner. Of 95 lakh power consumers in Telangana, nearly 75 lakh are in the domestic category and almost 80% of them consume below 200 units per month. They are primarily divided in three categories based on their consumption. While 0-100 units fall in Category-1; 100-200 units are in Category II and 200 units and above fall into Category - III. The tariff per unit is based on consumption and Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) has approved the tariff for monthly basis. However, in violation of TSERC guidelines, the TSSPDCL has generated bills based on overall consumption done in 90 days.