Residents also blamed the state government for not considering their demand for roll back of hike.
A day after the Uttra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission approved up to 12 per cent hike in power tariff for various consumer categories, Federation of Noida Resident Welfare association, the apex residents' body, on Wednesday told that it would challenge the decision in the appellate tribunal.
AN Dhawan, former Secretary General of the federation said, ''Even after suggesting the regulatory commission for fixing separate tariff for the city in terms of the provisions contained in central electricity act, the commission did not take our concerns into consideration and went ahead to increase the tariff.''
''We also demanded reduction in tariff on the basis of line losses being as low as 3.25 percent as compared to up to 40 percent line loss in other towns of the state. But domestic tariff has still increased by 8-12 percent. Why should residents of Noida bear the burden of other areas?,'' he added.
The federation had also gave its reasons as to why it doesn't want an increase in fixed charges and thanked the commission for accepting their demands. Dhawan added, ''We will consider contesting the hike before the appellate tribunal after studying relevant facts of hike in power tariff.''
According to the approved hike, the power regulator has increased the tariff for domestic consumers by nearly 12 per cent to Rs Rs 5.50 per unit for the first 150 units against the current rate of Rs 4.90. The tariffs for 151-300 units, 301-500 units and above 500 units have been increased to Rs 6 per units from Rs 5.40 at present, Rs 6.50 per unit from Rs 6.20 and Rs 7 per unit from Rs 6.50 respectively.
K K Jain, General Secretary of the federation said, ''We had submitted a memorandum of demand before the regulator for not increasing the tariff for Noida with the justification. It was handed over during the meeting held a month ago in Surajpur. But it seemed that this meeting was just a formality as none of residents' demand was considered and the regulator went ahead to approve the tariff as was proposed.''
Residents also blamed the state government for not considering their demand for roll back of hike. Namit Gautam, President of Prateek Fedora, a high rise residential society in Sector 61 said, ''This is the second time that we are opposing the government for increasing power tariff. We have been betrayed even after supporting BJP in state and as well as at the centre. Instead of reducing the line losses of distribution corporation and curbing corruption, they have shifted the burden on us by increasing the power tariff. We condemn the above decision and demand the government to decrease the power tariff immediately to provide justice to lakhs of consumers in Noida city.''
