Govt to dissolve ASEB

The State Cabinet today decided to formally dissolve the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) and from now on, three different companies will function for power transmission, generation and distribution.

Official sources said that the State Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi this evening, also discussed the report of the Group of Ministers on the Lower Subansiri project and accepted the recommendations of the group. However, the report of the GOM is yet to be made public.

The Cabinet also cleared several proposals of the Health, Education and Public Works Departments.

Forum to boycott hearing on tariff

The Consumer Legal Protection Forum, a city-based NGO, today decided to skip the public hearing of Assam Electricity Regulatory Authority on Tuesday, regarding an increase in power tariff in the state.

Chief convener of the NGO, Ajoy Hazarika, said they decided to skip the hearing, as the regulatory authority had failed to look into their complaints raised during similar hearings in the past.

“As the AERC is authorised by the Assam State Electricity Board to regulate the power tariff, we had demanded before it that the board should do away with the annual collection of power tariff from the government departments. Instead, the board should collect monthly tariff from government departments against every connection, as they collect tariff from general consumers. Instead of looking into our demands and other consumer grievances, it is again going to increase the power tariff,” Hazarika, also a lawyer of Gauhati High Court, said.

Assam to levy extra charge on power

Brace yourself for steeper electricity bills for the coming three months as the power distribution company will be levying an extra charge of 27 paise per unit for November, December and January. The additional burden will be levied as Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjustment (FPPA) charges, which is currently 76 paise per unit. The effective FPPA to be levied for the coming three months will by Rs 1.03 per unit.

The Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) had wanted a hike of 36 paise per unit in FPPA, which was rejected by Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) and settled at 27 paise per unit. The hike will garner additional revenue of Rs 111.24 cr for the company.

Power minister Pradyut Bordoloi clarified that the hike has not been imposed by the state government but by the AERC. "The hike has been necessitated as a fuel surcharge following fluctuation in fuel price and the rate of power purchase. The calculation is done on a multi-year basis."