Chennai,(Samajweekly) AIADMK’s expelled leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) on Monday urged the DMK-led state government to put pressure on the Central government to roll back on changes in the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020.
He said that in respect of day time, the proposed tariff under the Time of Day (ToD) system would be less than 10-20 per cent less than the normal tariff, but during the night it would be 10-20 per cent higher.
Referring to the applicability of the new tariff for commercial and industrial consumers from April 1, 2024 and for the rest, except for agricultural consumers from April 1, 2025, he said that this was an indirect means to for power tariff hike for the domestic consumers as it was during night that people used electricity more and added that the proposed hike may lead to inflation also.
The ToD tariff is to be made effective immediately after the installation of smart meters.
Panneerselvam claimed that the DMK government seems to be indirectly supporting the move as there have not been any comments from the ruling front on the matter.