FCIK slams JERC for near-10% industrial power tariff hike
Seeks Chief Minister’s intervention for restoration of existing industrial tariff
STC NEWS DESK
SRINAGAR, AUGUST 23 (STC): Kashmir Valley’s apex industrial Chamber, the Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has vehemently opposed the latest power tariff order of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC). In a statement, it has said that behind the mask of widely publicised average hike of 6.83%, industry has actually been saddled with an increase of nearly 10% in its principal energy charges, at a time when existing enterprises are already overstressed by a slew of unprecedented challenges.
In the statement, FCIK said the energy charge for LTIS-I has been increased from ₹4.20 to ₹4.60 per kVAh, while that for HT Industry at 11 kV has risen from ₹4.10 to ₹4.50 per kVAh, translating into steep increases of 9.52% and 9.76%, respectively. This is over and above the enhancement made in fixed/demand charges.
“For industry, 6.83% is therefore not the real story. More inexplicable is that KPDCL and JPDCL themselves sought only a 5% across-the-board increase, whereas JERC has imposed an increase approaching twice that percentage on the principal industrial energy charge,” FCIK said.
The Federation said even a 5% increase would be difficult for existing industry to absorb. While a substantial number of enterprises are operating at meagre capacity utilisation and struggling for viability, the Government is preparing a new Industrial Policy with revival of existing units as an important objective.
“A near-10% escalation in a basic input cost at this stage could further suppress production, impair competitiveness and frustrate the very process of revival,” stated FCIK.
The Chamber questioned why industry should be burdened with system-wide inefficiencies when industrial consumption is essentially fully metered, with HT consumers subjected to precise energy and demand metering.
“Theft, unmetered consumption, deficient billing, poor recoveries and commercial losses elsewhere cannot indiscriminately be loaded upon an identifiable, metered and regularly billed consumer category”, stated FCIK.
The Federation reminded JERC of its own categorical observation in the previous tariff order that distribution loss is a “controllable parameter” and that “inefficiencies cannot be passed on to the consumers.”
“JERC cannot enunciate this sound regulatory principle and then allow fully-metered consumers to become the easiest means of balancing the books of distribution utilities,” FCIK said.
FCIK also questioned the reliance on system-wide distribution-loss assumptions of around 15% for JPDCL and 19% for KPDCL without transparently establishing where these losses actually occur. It called for disclosure of voltage-wise and category-wise technical and commercial losses, theft and unmetered consumption, collection efficiency and the actual cost of serving industrial consumers before additional costs are loaded upon industry.
The Federation was equally critical of this year’s stakeholder consultation, describing it as more a statutory formality than meaningful consultation. The exceptionally poor stakeholder response should itself have alerted JERC and the DISCOMs that the proposals had not been effectively disseminated or subjected to informed scrutiny.
FCIK said the procedural concern becomes more serious because stakeholders were confronted with an across-the-board 5% proposal, whereas the eventual increase in the principal industrial energy charge reached 9.52–9.76%.
“If JERC contemplated imposing a materially higher burden on a particular category than what had been proposed, elementary fairness required that affected stakeholders be adequately informed and afforded a meaningful opportunity to respond,” the Federation said.
FCIK also called for greater scrutiny of the costs underlying the tariff determination, including power-purchase and transmission costs, procurement efficiency, O&M expenditure, bad debts, collection shortfalls and non-tariff revenues. Every deficiency in the distribution system cannot ultimately find its way into the electricity bill of consumers who meter and pay for what they consume.
FCIK further said that those entrusted with tariff determination also needed to be adequately sensitized to the peculiar industrial realities of Jammu and Kashmir—difficult topography, geographical remoteness from major markets and raw-material sources, high freight costs, harsh winters and limited working season in Kashmir, besides decades of turbulence and disruption through which local entrepreneurs have struggled to keep their enterprises and employment alive.
“Revival of industry and escalation of its basic input costs cannot travel together. When existing enterprises are struggling to revive, a 5% proposal cannot be allowed to emerge as a near-10% increase in their principal energy charge,” FCIK said.
“Industry is not asking to escape payment for electricity it consumes. It is asking not to be made responsible for electricity lost, stolen, unbilled or unrecovered elsewhere.” FCIK said.
FCIK has consequently appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his immediate intervention, urging him to advise the Power Development Department, JPDCL and KPDCL to file an urgent review and reconsideration petition before JERC against Order No. 06 of 2026, seeking restoration of the pre-order tariff for existing industrial consumers.
The Federation hoped that, considering the fragile condition of existing industry, the Chief Minister would intervene before the enhanced tariff begins inflicting further stress on enterprises and take all appropriate measures to keep the increase in industrial tariff in abeyance pending its review and reconsideration by JERC.
(Straight Talk Communications)
