Karnataka SMEs seek separate electricity tariff, urge solar use

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Small Scale Industries (SSI) have sought separate electricity tariff. “SMEs and SSI consuming 40HP and below or 2,000 units should be brought under separate tariff plan,” KS Mallappa Gowda, Chairman (Sub-Committee, Energy), Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia) told. According to Gowda, a detailed representation was made before the […]

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Small Scale Industries (SSI) have sought separate electricity tariff.

“SMEs and SSI consuming 40HP and below or 2,000 units should be brought under separate tariff plan,” KS Mallappa Gowda, Chairman (Sub-Committee, Energy), Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia) told.

According to Gowda, a detailed representation was made before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) at the public hearing held last week.

Kassia has filed it as objections that the SSIs are overburdened with frequent tariff increase and poor quality of power which was adversely affecting their ability to compete in a global market.

Load shedding is also killing the MSME sector, he said, pointing out that processing industries like foundry, injection moulding, and CNC machines require quality power and even a small interruption leads to rejection.

Suresh Kumar Jain, General Secretary of Mysore Industries Association who is organising an awareness programme on ‘Roof Top Solar Power Generation’ said “A large potential is available for generating solar power using unutilized space on rooftops of buildings.”

The Central Government has set a challenging target of installing 4,200 MW of Grid-Interactive Rooftop Solar PV Plants during the next five years up to 2019-20 under the National Solar Mission (NSM).

“Today it is possible to generate solar power from the solar rooftop systems at a nominal rate of Rs 6.50/kWh. This is much cheaper than the electricity generated through diesel gen-sets,” said Jain.

While there was lot of scope in MSME sector for rooftop solar installation it remained untapped due to lack of awareness and inadequate handholding by the state government.

At the hearing for the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTCL) Kassia represented that industries that were ready to start, or were on the verge of expanding their enterprise, suffered due to no station augmentation or strengthening of lines.

Delay in power supply and load shedding had led to a decline in power consumption by industries. Staring at a proposed hike of Rs 1.02 per unit of electricity, different classes of consumers aired their opinions at the public hearing.

Source: Business Line