Electricity Minister Thangam Thennarasu alleged that the AIADMK government’s decision to join the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme had resulted in the hike in power tariff on Tuesday.
Talking to reporters at Anna Arivalayam, he said Jayalalithaa opposed the scheme, but O. Panneerselvam, who was the interim Chief Minister when she was in the hospital, agreed to join because of the pressure from the Centre and Tamil Nadu had signed an agreement in 2017.
“One of the important features of the tripartite agreement is that the State has to increase the power tariff every year. Now the AIADMK is protesting the hike in power tariff,” he said.
The Minister said the total loss of the Tangedco till 2011-2012, when the DMK was in power, was ₹18,954 crore and it increased to ₹94,312 crore in the 10 years rule of the AIADMK. “By the time the DMK assumed office, it became ₹1,13,266 crore. After coming to power, the DMK government provided loss funding to the Tangedco,” he said
He added that the interest for the loss increased up to 250% and the interest stood at ₹16,511 crore in 2021.
“The finances of the Tangedco are in a bad shape and the increase in the tariff is only to overcome the losses. Around one crore customers are exempted from the hike and when compared to other States, the tariff is low in Tamil Nadu,” he explained.
He said that the DMK government had succeeded in reducing the losses incurred by the Tangedco, and the losses for 2023-24 was ₹3,429 crore. “The government is taking efforts to control the losses and is implementing schemes to increase its revenues. It is also cutting down on expenditure,” he added.
Mr. Thennarasu also rejected the claim that the hike would bring ₹40,000 crore revenue to Tangedco. “The hike will only increase the revenue to ₹2,280 crore. The State grant is ₹500 crore,” he added. To a question on monthly reading of metres, he said smart meters were required and that the Tangedco had called for tenders to buy them. “Monthly reading will come into effect after procuring smart metres,” he said.
