Lawyer and politician Erwin K Syiem Sutnga has termed the constant load shedding in the state as the murder of the common man’s livelihood.
Not everyone can afford an inverter or generator and the hours of daily power cuts have especially hurt the common man.
He described the service provided by the state-owned power utilities as “deficient” and stated that consumers have the right to quality service.
The government’s running of the power sector is ad hoc, haphazard and lacking a proper plan he claimed, while stating that Meghalaya has the potential to be an energy exporting state as it could generate more than enough electricity to hydropower or other means but the government has not taken the ideas seriously enough.
Asked whether an increase in the electricity tariff could help Meghalaya bridge the gap between supply and demand, Sutnga said that that would only add a different burder to the general consumer. Meghalaya is unable to meet the shortfall in its own electricity generation by purchasing power from elsewhere because the cost of buying it is more than the amount the state utility charges consumers.
“Why not explore the possibility of increasing the tariff for the big industries like the cement factories, etc that are getting subsidies?” Sutnga questioned.
