The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) today appealed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa for reducing power tariff considering the steep reduction in the prices of fuels like coal, furnace oil and, HSD oil, used for power generation.

After a long struggle, Tamil Nadu has now become a power surplus state and the tariff of power available in the open market is quite competitive, SIMA chairman, M. Senthil Kumar said.

In a representation to the chief minister, he said that Tamil Nadu was facing acute power shortage since 2008 and therefore the cost of electricity and power was exorbitant in the absence of grid power. The textile industry, a power-intensive sector, has been subjected to severe financial stress due to high cost power, he said. It was further worsened due to the power subsidy, interest subsidy, and various incentives offered by the major cotton-growing states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.

Senthilkumar pointed out that the price of a tonne of coal has come down from Rs.5,399 in 2013 to Rs.3,591. The furnace oil prices, excluding VAT, have also reduced to Rs.17.81 per litre from Rs.39.55. HSD oil price, excluding VAT, has fallen to Rs.36.25 per litre from Rs.51.70 per litre in 2013.

He has appealed to the Chief Minister to reduce the power tariff for the HT consumers in order to realize the investment targets that were fixed at the Global Investors Meet 2015.