Steep rise in property tax and power tariff caused serious repercussion among the people especially on the eve of Durga puja and demand is being raised from various corner to withdraw and at least defer the implementation. 

The Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) on Saturday has hiked power tariff by an average of 5 to 7 percent and the hiked power tariff hike will come into force from October 1, 2023.

TSECL's managing director, Debasis Sarkar justified the latest 5 to7% hike in power tariff and speaking to media persons he said that the state government had no role in this as the question of tariff is decided by the regulatory commission and recently many other states have increased power tariff.  He said that before the latest hike in Tripura the final decision had been taken by the regulatory commission and the government cannot go against this; there is no other option. He said that power tariff had been increased for the last time in Tripura in the year 2014 and nine years have passed without increase despite the rise in production and other costs.

The TSCEL, once a profit-making government entity, has incurred a total loss of Rs 280 crore during financial years-2021-22 and a loss of Rs 80 crore in the first three months of the current financial year.

The last time TSECL revised the power tariff was in 2014 and at present, Tripura has around 10 lakh consumers and after taking into consideration all factors and consultation with Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission (TERC), an average 5-7 percent power tariff has been increased to save the power corporation", said Debasis Sarkar.

He said that the main reason behind the hike was due to the rise in the cost of gas by around 196 percent over the past few years and around 98 percent of power plants in Tripura are gas-based combined cycle.

Earlier, TSECL used to spend Rs 15 crore for procuring gas per month for running gas-based power generation units but now it has risen to Rs 35-40 crore per month. There is no way rather than going for a power tariff hike, said Sarkar.

While, massive reaction has been shown across the state over sudden hike in power tariff and opposition parties demanded immediate withdrawal of the decision.

Former Power Minister and senior CPI(M) leader Manik Dey speaking in a press conference on Sunday afternoon said that TSECL and the state government through this sudden hike in power tariff will impose extra-burden on the people, who are suffering from high inflation.

He claimed that there is no justification over the hike of power without informing lakhs of consumers. He said that TSECL has given reason for hike because of huge losses in transmission and distribution, theft and revenue gap, which can be mitigated by developing the present infrastructures. Dey demanded immediate roll-back of the decision as the suffering common people will rise again with this power tariff hike before the festival.

Dey also slammed the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) over serving property tax notices to the city dwellers without their concern or proper assessment of their properties. “The city dwellers must be aware of the assessment method of their property taxes and it is not justified to serve notices for paying taxes before October 5th,” said Dey.

It may be recalled here that AMC has started serving property tax notices to every house with abrupt hikes in taxes with a deadline for payment before October 5th.