Chennai: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has approached the Madras high court, challenging the order of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) revising electricity tariff from December 12, 2014. According to the petitioner and CPM secretary (TN state committee), G. Ramakrishnan, the daily demand of electricity is 1,200 MW, whereas 1,154 MW was purchased from seven private electricity generating companies. The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has installed capacity to generate 9,242 MW per day yet they were not generating to full capacity.

This only ensures 70 per cent revenue for the private sector. Thus, for the benefit of a few vested interests, 2.65 crore consumers were being taken for a ride; TNERC has remained a mute spectator and has encouraged Tangedco by permitting it to hike power tariff, Ramakrishnan added. He said TNERC did not issue a publication informing the public as to how the revised tariff was justified, there was no effective public hearing. None of the objections raised by the petitioners was considered by it.

The commission did not examine the high rates at which Tangedco procured electricity from private parties, nor did it examine the reason for the revenue gap and possible measures to be taken to reduce this. He said the commission did not examine theft of electricity and recovery of dues from industrialists while fixing the revised tariff. It did not act as an adjudicatory body, keeping the larger public interest in view.

The two members of the commission had not given any reasons as to how the note of the dissenting member was not tenable, he added, and sought to stay the order of TNERC dated December 11, 2014. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.M. Sundresh adjourned the matter to January 12.