By IANS,
Shimla : Facing criticism from the opposition Congress over the recent hike in electricity rates for domestic consumers, the Himachal Pradesh government Tuesday clarified that “it does not determine the tariff”.
The rates for domestic consumers have been hiked by 20-30 paise and for industries by 20-25 paise per unit.
Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board’s (HPSEB) chairman Ajay Mittal said: “The state government does not determine the tariff. It has been done by the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.”
He said the HPSEB tariff petition had not proposed any hike for the domestic consumers.
The chairman said the government was providing a subsidy of Rs.14 billion a year to the HPSEB as domestic consumers were not charged the full price of the electricity they got.
In order to reduce the burden on the consumers, the state government had started ‘Atal Bijli Bachat Yojna’ under which every household would be provided four CFL bulbs free of cost to cut down their power billa.
The Congress has threatened to launch an agitation against the “anti-people decision of the government”.