Vijayawada: CPM demands decrease in electricity charges

Vijayawada: In a submission to the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) here on Tuesday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) stated that the government should bear the electricity charges, demand charges and other fees proposed by the SPDCL, CPDCL and EPDCL.

Submitting the memorandum to the APERC at the public hearing on the second day here, the CPM executive committee member Ch Babu Rao demanded the withdrawal of the electricity reforms which would result in handing over the power sector to the corporate houses.

He said that it was not a proper decision to install metres to the agriculture pump sets which would result in complete withdrawal of free power supply to the farm sector. "It is a ridiculous idea that the money would be deposited in the farmers' account to enable them to pay the power charges," he said and wanted to know who would bear the customer charges and others if the government bears only the power charges.

He said that it was unbecoming of the YSRCP and TDP for not raising their voice though it was clear that the policies of the Centre would burden the people in more than one way. He took strong exception to the purchase of power from the private players when the public sector is generating enough power at low cost. Referring to the reduction of charges on high tension services, he said that the same was not applied to the household services. He demanded continuation of cross subsidy system. The APERC should reject the power reforms proposed by the Centre and there should not be any Centre's control on APERC.