State BJP president K. Annamalai on Monday criticized the DMK government for its failure to implement a much-needed tariff revision for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Tamil Nadu.In a statement, Annamalai accused the government of causing hardship to the public by increasing electricity tariffs annually. He pointed out that industry associations have been demanding a reclassification of small industries’ electricity connection from category III-B to III-A (1), which would significantly reduce the tariff from ₹9.60 to ₹4.65 per unit. Despite the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (TNERC) directive, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has not implemented the automatic reclassification, instead requiring MSMEs to apply separately.
Annamalai urged the government to:
Automatically convert all MSMEs with an electrical load of 12 kW and below from category III-B to category III-A (1).
Refund the excess charges collected from these companies over the past 18 months.
He criticized the TNEB for its inconsistency, stating, “It is inexplicable that TNEB can automatically transfer companies consuming more than 12 kW of electricity load to the higher tariff category through software updates but requires industries to apply separately to transfer to the lower tariff category. Is this a ploy to deceive industries with announcements for mere publicity?”
The BJP leader called for immediate action to address the grievances of MSMEs and alleviate their financial burden.