SURAT, July 10: The Surat Citizens' Council will soon ask customers of Surat Electricity Company (SEC) to desist from paying their electricity bills as a form of protest against the hike in power tariff. The private electricity company raised the tariff after the state government's decision to withdraw subsidy took effect from April 1.Customers' monthly bills have gone up by nearly 33 per cent. The council has requested the state government to direct the company to put on hold the hike for three months and invite the council for negotiations.After a prolonged agitation by SEC customers from Surat who were made to pay more in comparison to the Gujarat Electricity Board, the Bharatiya Janata Party on coming to power had equalised the rates and paid the difference as subsidy to the electricity company.SCC claimed Surtis paid a whopping Rs 1,500 crore to the company more than their counterparts elsewhere in Gujarat between 1970 and 1996, before the rates were equalised.The Rashtriya Janata Partygovernment after change of guard revoked the decision last year. However, even after four months of taking office the BJP government failed to scrap the decision taken by the RJP government, all the while assuring the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) and SCC that it would find a way out.When the deadline on withdrawal of the subsidy expired the company automatically hiked the tariff. SCC said that amounts to exploitation as Surat SEC's consumers end up paying much more than GEB consumers, including those in Surat.SCC chairman I J Desai said subscribers would be asked not to pay the bills with increased tariff. The agitation would be intensified till the state government intervened and gave relief to the Surat consumers, he said.
