FICO opposes power tariff hike of Rs 0.30 per unit wef Jan 1, 2020

It says, any increase in tariff will hit the industry hard Ludhiana: Today a meeting of Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organization (FICO), held under the chairmanship of Gurmeet Singh Kular President FICO, regarding the power tariff hike of Rs.0.30 per unit from January 1, 2020. FICO demanded from Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh and Er Baldev Singh Sran CMD, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, to roll back this decision immediately so as to save the already struggling industry of Punjab. Kular said that the state government has failed to live up to its promise of providing the electricity to industry at Rs.5 net per unit, fixed for the period of five years; the same was also mentioned in the election manifesto of Congress. So, this hike is simply unjustified. Moreover, the industry is already paying the two-way tariff in which there are mandatory fixed charges & variable charges, which is costing from Rs.10 to Rs.15 per unit to the MSME Industry. Punjab is known for its MSME Industry also Punjab being surplus state in terms of power, yet the electricity is the most expensive in Punjab, when compared to the neighbouring states. And further increase in basic tariff of power, will affect the industry very badly, as power is one of the major raw material for the industry and increase in power will increase the cost of production, hence industry will have to face the shutdown, or industry needs to migrate to other states. K. K. Seth, Chairman, FICO strongly opposed the increase in basic tariff by Rs.0.30 per unit from January 1, 2020 and said industry has not yet came over from the complexities of GST, e-way billing. Moreover, industry is going through the period of recession, and any increase in tariff will hit the industry hard in such crunch period.