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– Photo : Amar Ujala
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The public hearing was completed on Saturday in all the electricity distribution corporations of Uttar Pradesh. Now the Electricity Regulatory Commission will take a decision on the electricity rates. During the public hearing, the Consumer Council declared that the electricity rates should not be increased at any cost. It suggested that the electricity distribution corporations can be saved from losses by reducing wasteful expenditure. It is wrong to put the burden on the consumers.
Public hearings of all the corporations running under the Power Corporation in the state were held on different days. On the last day, Saturday, public hearing of Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam was held in Meerut. A proposal to increase electricity rates was put forward by the corporation, to which the President of the Consumer Council, Awadhesh Kumar Verma, objected.
He raised the issue of Rs 33122 crore dues of consumers and demanded reduction of electricity rates instead of increasing them. He said, the Power Corporation officials change the law on electricity theft passed by the Lok Sabha and waive off 65% of the assessments of electricity theft. Consumers have to bear the brunt of this.
Regulatory Commission Chairman Arvind Kumar and member Sanjay Kumar Singh heard all the parties. They assured that a decision will be taken soon on the issue of electricity rates on the basis of public hearing of all the corporations.