Sir,

Apropos the letter by K. Vijaykumar titled ‘Pay & Park is against the ideology of Government’ in SOM dated June 13. I liked very much the satire in the words FREE (in capitals) season, while drawing attention of MCC to the ideology of the present State Government vis-à-vis pay and park. I wish to convey my appreciation to the correspondent for the brevity yet strong message.

I also like to bring to notice the recent huge rise in electricity charges of Rs. 7 per unit for all units if the consumption exceeds 100 units and runs against the ideology of using more and more EVs to protect environment from degradation. Why is this double whammy for middle class users whose average consumption is likely to be more than 100 units?

While it is the normal duty of KERC to increase the rates periodically to guard against ESComs’ mounting huge losses in future, irrespective of a FREE scheme or not, this is a steep increase in a single step for all middle class users, notwithstanding that the present Government has announced FREE supply up to the average consumption subject to a maximum of 200 units per month.

This may become an additional burden on the Government for reimbursement to ESComs for losses incurred due to free supply scheme. This high increase may not have been taken into account while announcing the FREE scheme.

It is not yet made clear if FREE supply of electricity up to 200 units includes the freedom from paying the monthly FIXED charges even if no unit is consumed.

Another outcome of this huge rise would be that EVs sale may see a downward trend if the cost of running them goes higher than the petrol variants. This in turn may increase the sale of petrol vehicles thus helping the revenue to Government directly by increased sale of petrol fuel. The future scenario is unclear.

– Prof. B.S. Shankara (Retd.), Mysuru, 15.6.2023

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