Industry bodies seek rollback of Haryana power tariff hike

The clamour in Haryana over the hike in electricity tariff effected in April is growing, with several industry associations now claiming that the charges, significantly higher compared to neighbouring States, could force manufacturing units to eventually migrate.

NCR Chamber of Commerce and Industry president H.P. Yadav told The Hindu that the repeated demands and representations by industry bodies across the State seeking a rollback had not evoked any response from the government so far. “Unlike earlier, government officials and even political leaders seem to have become indifferent to the problems of the industry. For long, industrialists have been raising this issue, but there are no efforts to address it. With the competition among States growing to attract investment, the hike could put Haryana at a disadvantage and force the industrial units to gradually shift elsewhere,” he said, partially blaming the decision on the trend of announcing “freebies” during elections.

The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission had announced an increase of 30 paise per unit for the industrial and commercial category consumers and hiked the fixed charges per kVA from ₹165 to ₹290 in April this year.

The Bahadurgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), representing 8,500-odd industrial units, in a letter to Power Minister Anil Vij last week, said that the increase in fixed charges had increased the financial burden on small and medium industries. “For example, a unit with a 100 kVA load is now paying ₹15,500 more per month, while the impact on medium-scale units is going to be more than ₹40,000 per month,” read the letter, claiming that the industry in the State would incur an annual burden of ₹2,100 crore due to the hike.

The letter stated that Delhi and Rajasthan, with much lower per kVA charges of ₹125 and ₹160 respectively, appeared attractive investment options. It also enumerated several challenges facing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises such as increase in raw material prices, global competition and sluggish demand.

Profits and losses

Manesar Industries Welfare Association general secretary, Vikash Gupta said the body also wrote to Chief Minister Nayab Saini a month ago, but there had been no response. The letter had questioned the rationale behind the increase in tariff, arguing that both power distribution companies – Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) – in the State had declared a profit of ₹800 crore in March 2021, but in their Annual Revenue Reports this year they have together claimed a loss of around ₹4,800 crore over the past four years. It demanded that the reasons behind the losses should be made public.

DHBVN spokesperson Sanjay Chugh said technical and commercial reasons, such as line resistance, power theft, and non-payment of bills, were some of the reasons for the losses. He, however, added that the power tariff hike was announced after a due process involving public hearing and consultation of stakeholders and there was no proposal, as of now, to reconsider it.