CPI urges CM Stalin to reject proposed 3.16% electricity tariff hike

CHENNAI: CPI state secretary R Mutharasan has strongly opposed the proposed 3.16% increase in electricity tariffs, which is expected to take effect on July 1, 2025.

In a statement, Mutharasan urged the state government not to accept the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission's (TNERC) recommendation.

"By accepting the UDAY scheme, the previous AIADMK government had bound Tamil Nadu to an annual tariff hike, either 6% or according to the prevailing inflation rate at the end of the financial year, whichever is lower," he noted.

Mutharasan noted that the TNERC has continuously increased tariffs over the past three years, owing to the conditions that the previous AIADMK had committed the State to. Citing previous hikes of 2.18% in 2023 and 4.83% in 2024, he argued that these repeated increases have severely burdened the public.

The CPI leader said that the rising cost of electricity, coupled with the Union government's "anti-people policies", has contributed to a sharp increase in prices of essential commodities, escalating the cost of living across all sections of the public. He also highlighted the detrimental impact on small, micro, and medium-scale industries already struggling under fixed charges and tariff pressures.

Calling the latest proposed hike "unacceptable under any circumstances," Mutharasan urged Chief Minister MK Stalin and the DMK government to reject the TNERC's recommendation for yet another hike.