Power department will not tolerate ‘hook line’ and power theft and Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) will intensify its anti-hook line operations across the state, said Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath.

Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath gave this warning at a press conference organized at the corporate office of TSECL on Saturday and said that the employees of  the corporation through hard and dedicated work are ensuring seamless power supply across the state.

He said that is why the corporation is probably the first PSU in the state, to whom the board of directors of the corporation has decided to pay dearness allowance (DA) along with the salary for the month of November. For this, an additional amount of Rs 55 lakh will be required every month.

Although TPTL and TPGL have emerged as separate PSUs, since these organizations are still working together under the umbrella of TSECL, the dearness allowance of these three organizations will be paid together from TSECL, said Nath.

The minister also said that the way the employees, officers and engineers of these three organizations worked at the risk of their lives during the floods a few days ago is commendable. For this, they have also been given a one-time incentive allowance from the corporation.

Nath  highlighting the multifaceted work of the state power corporation said that at present, Tripura has a total of electricity consumers 11 lakh 24 thousand 918. Of these, 1,41,583 are prepaid customers and 9,83,335 are postpaid customers.

In 2018, the number of electricity customers was 7,21,955. The current electricity demand in the state is 250 MW, said Nath and added that  at present the state's own  electricity generation is 600 MW. Of this, Rukia has 18 MW, Ramachandra Nagar 45 MW and Palatana 537 MW. Electricity is available from the central sector ---- Loktak 11 MW, Kopili 8 MW, Kapili-two  2.2 MW, AG BPP 14 MW, AG TPP 12 MW, DHEP 4 MW, RHEP 28 MW, Palatana 111 MW, BG TPP 49 MW, PARE 8 MW, Manarchak 65 MW (but Manarchak is currently closed).  Fom Rukhia power plant, TPGL's only power generation plant is producing  18 MW power. He said that 60 MW power has given to Bangladesh.

Speaking about the electricity tariff, the minister said, the last electricity tariff increase in the state was from August 1, 2024. The Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission increased this tariff due to the increase in gas prices and the increase in prices in the inter-state electricity transport sector. Where earlier the price of gas per unit was Rs 238.32, now the price of gas per unit is Rs 704.29 and  the price of gas has increased by 196 percent.

In the case of inter-state electricity transport, where the transportation cost was Rs 3.5 crore per month, now this cost has stood at Rs 12 crore per month. Which has increased by 178 percent, said Nath.

The Minister also requested the people of the state to install solar panels under government subsidy under the PM Surya Ghar Mufti Bijli Yojana. He said that 9,959 people have registered their names in PM Surya Ghar Mufti Bijli Yojana so far and 989 people have submitted all the documents.

During the press conference the Minister was  accompanied by Power Secretary Abhishek Singh and the corporation's Managing Director Biswajit Basu and Finance Director Sarabjit Singh Dogra.