Office-bearers of Federation of Coimbatore Industrial Associations (FOCIA) called on Chief Minister Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat and shared the concerns of MSME sector regarding the EB power tariffs.
The members of FOCIA including its coordinators James. Suruli Vel, Shiva Shanmuga Kumar and others submitted a representation detailing 25 key requests of MSMEs to the CM. They appealed the Chief Minister to remove the fixed demand charges which is affecting the MSME sector much.
“The first and foremost demand among the 25 representations that we want to see fulfilled is the removal of the fixed demand charge. If the government abolishes this charge, MSMEs across Tamil Nadu will wholeheartedly welcome the move and thank the Tamil Nadu Government. The Chief Minister has assured us that he will look into the matter,” said James.
The fixed demand charge is a fee that industries must pay irrespective of whether they consume electricity. Even if a factory remains shut for one or two months, this charge still has to be paid. Earlier, the fixed charge was around Rs.35 per kilowatt, but it has increased significantly over the years. Today, an industry with a 100-kW electricity connection has to pay more than Rs.17,000 every month even if the factory is not operational.
“Fixed demand charge continues to place a heavy burden on MSMEs, removing this alone would provide significant relief to MSMEs across Tamil Nadu. It would not have a major financial impact on the Electricity Department, but it would greatly ease the burden on MSMEs. We are not asking for a rollback of all electricity tariffs; we are only requesting the government to seriously consider and resolve this specific issue,” he added.
