Goa, Sept. 2 -- Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar has defended Goa's electricity tariff structure amid a heated debate in the Assembly, calling the issue "unnecessary chaos".

He said Goa's power tariffs are among the lowest compared to several other States and Union Territories, while stressing that tariff decisions fall under the jurisdiction of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), which is the final authority. According to Dhavalikar, the State government cannot interfere in the regulator's decisions.

Addressing concerns over rising electricity bills, Dhavalikar said smart and digital meters follow the same system for calculating power consumption and do not have a separate billing mechanism. He attributed higher bills la...