Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday sought to assure industries and commercial consumers that their electricity bills from next month onwards will be less as they would reflect just the previous month’s consumption even as these premium consumers are planning a day’s shutdown in protest against steep tariffs. He, however, ruled out any reduction in power tariffs in a chat with the media.

The current month’s bill looked heavy because it reflected the arrears of the last two months, he said while hoping that the industries and traders will drop their strike plans. The CM said he would talk to the Bescom officials again and ask them to hold talks with industries and trade groups.

Small scale industry lobby, the Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has slammed the government for attempting to mollify them by seeking to pass on last year’s rebate of 50 paise now

The power sector regulator KERC had mandated a rebate of 50 paise per unit last year for micro and small scale industries. The rebate would be applicable for electricity used from April 1, 2022 for a year. This year, consumers had complained that Bescom officials were delaying processing their request. The Bescom, in response, asked its officials to pass on the rebate without much hassle.

A rebate of 50 paise per unit from last year wasn’t going to cut it in the face of an effective rise of 30-32% in electricity bills, Kassia president KN Narasimha Murthy told ET. “Industries have had a hard time since Covid in 2020, and the recession brought on by the Ukraine war after that. At a time when we are finally beginning to find our feet again, a tariff hike will only take us back to square one,” he said.

The association, he added, will meet with energy minister KJ George to discuss their demands on Tuesday. “We are collecting opinions from industry associations all over the state and we will present a memo to the minister outlining our concerns,” he said. KASSIA had threatened to issue a strike call to all MSMEs next week as a last resort if the state government does not rescind the hike in power tariffs.The Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) has called for a bandh on June 22 to protest the tariff hike. The opposition BJP has thrown its weight behind the protest, slamming the government on twitter for being the first state government to have a bandh called out against it within a month of assuming office. “Will you wait till the bandh is over or will you take remedial action now,” the party tweeted.