Public hearing dumps MeECL proposal
SHILLONG: A public hearing on Wednesday dismissed the MeECL proposal for a fixed power charge in the State.
The public hearing, called by the Meghalaya State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MSERC), questioned the rationale behind the proposal for a fixed power charge in the State at a time when irregular and erratic power supply is the order of the day.
During the hearing, MESRC Chairman Anand Kumar informed that a proposal for hike in power tariff had been submitted to the Commission last year by the three wings of Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) following which the Commission had sought for views and suggestions from power consumers.
During the hearing on Wednesday, power consumers objected to the quality and quantity of power supplied to them, besides raising questions on safety of transformers and delay in the delivery of power bills.
Representatives of several industrial units expressed fears that any substantial hike in power tariff would affect their viability.
The participants also raised
objections to the MeECL proposal to hike the power tariff by as much as 6-7 times of the present fixed charge. They also lamented that power bills in certain areas were never delivered while in several rural areas, the meter reading is never taken and the bills are prepared according to the will of the meter reader.
On his part, the MSERC Chairman informed that he has asked the MeECL Director to respond to all the objections, adding that he also asked MeECL to direct its staff to respond to the grievances of the consumers.
Informing that the Commission has asked MeECL to submit its financial accounts from 2010 till 2013 within March 15, he assured that he would conduct an audit of the financial records to examine whether the proposed hike was justified.
When MeECL officials informed the participants that the 2010-2011 and 2011- 2012 audit reports were, some members of the public demanded that the audit reports be made public and released in the public domain.
Participants at the public hearing included residents of Ri War, Pynursla, Marbisu, Mawngap, Lyngdoh Mawphlang, and representatives of CSWO, TUR, besides the Secretary of Hima Mawbeh, Secretary of Hima Nongspung, Secretary of Raid Shabong and the sitting legislator from Mawphlang, Kennedy Khyriem.
