Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition Congress-led UDF in Kerala has announced a protest against the unprecedented 'hike' in the electricity tariff by the state government. As part of the 'Lights off Kerala' protest, people have been asked to switch off the power for three minutes at 9 pm on June 17.
Many people in the state have been complaining of the Kerala State Electricity Board charging exorbitant bill amounts following the COVID lockdown.
Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media on Friday that this peculiar situation has arisen because during the Covid-19 lockdown, the electricity meter readers of the Kerala State Electricity Board were not able to reach the homes of the consumers to take the reading and give the bill.
“The government and the KSEB should step back from the move to fleece the people by hiking electricity bill in the wake of the COVID crisis. The charges have been increased without officially announcing it. It has served a double whammy to the people who have suffered badly due to the lockdown,” Chennithala said.
"Since the billing rates are in telescopic nature, this delay in meter reading when done subsequently saw the bi-monthly electricity bill jump, causing heartburn to many. This issue was raised on numerous occasions but no action has come so far and hence we are forced to stage this protest," said Chennithala.
A consumer who utilises 200 units for their home in a billing cycle, the delay in meter reading has led to a huge spike in the monthly charges, Chennithala said, citing an example.
"We are also launching an online complaint register where all can join and can log on to register their protest. This will be there till the government withdraws the excess charges," added Chennithala.
The KSEB has refuted the charges that the bill of 2.5 months was given instead of two months.
The KSEB did not have permission to record metre reading from March 24 to April 20 due to the COVID-19 lockdown. When the process was resumed, the metre reading of several consumers could be taken only after 4-5 days.
The board authorities said that the bills, that were calculated based on more than 60 days of consumption, will be revised if the consumer files a complaint with the section office.
Also, a delayed metre reading due to the lockdown meant that the power tariff moved to the next slab. The board said that the bill amount is being revised in such cases as well, KSEB said.
