CHENNAI: Finance and Electricity Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Tuesday strongly criticised AIADMK’s statewide protest against the recent electricity tariff hike. He said, “Tangedco’s financial loss during the 10-year AIADMK rule from 2011-2021 was Rs 1.13 lakh crore, while during the DMK regime from 2006-2011, it was Rs 18,954 crore.”
Thennarasu criticised the previous AIADMK government for increasing electricity tariff three times. “In 10 years, they hiked the tariff by 3.7%, 3.57%, and 16.33% in 2012, 2013, and 2014 respectively.”
He further explained that the state has the lowest electricity tariff compared to other states. The current DMK government is improving the utility’s own power generation and reducing private power purchases. Steps are being taken to use more green energy sources to keep the utility’s expenses under control, he said.
Referring to last year’s electricity hike, Thennarasu said, “Though a 2.18% increase was announced last year, the state government absorbed it for the people’s welfare and paid it as a subsidy to Tangedco. Now, we have increased the tariff only by 4.83%, he said, blaming the previous AIADMK government for further worsening the situation by signing to the Union government’s UDAY scheme.
