The Hynñiewtrep Youths’ Council (HYC) met officials of the Meghalaya State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MSERC) objecting to its mid-year revision of electricity tariffs of industrial and domestic rates.
The new rates, which were revised at the end of October, will make power costlier for domestic consumers but cheaper for industrial users.
According to HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem, the commission has ordered that electricity bills be revised from December 2024, retroactively incorporating the new tariff.
This, Synrem said, effectively makes domestic consumers defaulters “for no fault of theirs” while rewarding industrial consumers with lower rates. “This is unacceptable on our part and we strongly condemn the MSERC for this unilateral order,” he added.
The pressure group has doubts about the necessity of the new tariff seeing as it was announced midway through the 2024-25 financial year. It is demanding that the state-owned power company not implement the new rates.
Meanwhile, Synrem also said that it is concerning that the MSERC has deviated from established practice in the appointment of its chairman; in the past it was standard to appoint a retired officer who had served the state as the MSERC chairman whereas the incumbent is a retired official of the nationalised power company NTPC.
