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Uttarakhand hikes power tariff by 15 per cent

Dehra Dun: Electricity bills are going to burn a bigger hole in the pockets of consumers in Uttarakhand as the State power regulator has decided to raise tariffs by an average 15 per cent with retrospective effect.

The new tariff will be applicable with effect from October 1 and will continue till March 2010, Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) head V. J. Talwar said.

Tariff for domestic unmetered (rural) consumers will rise from Rs.150 per month to Rs.200. Metered domestic consumers-- with sanctioned load up to 4 kW -- will be charged Rs.20 per month and sanctioned load above 4 kW will be have to pay Rs.40 per month.

The tariffs have been designed to recover the entire revenue gap during the 6 months period of fiscal year 2009-10 for which the revised tariff will be applicable, Mr. Talwar said.

Mr. Talwar said the Commission has approved of an annual revenue requirement of Rs.1,848.6 crore for 2009-10 and the revenue at the existing tariffs works out to be Rs.1,782.27 crore leaving a revenue gap of Rs.66.3 crore. The average increase to bridge the entire revenue gap during six months is around 15 per cent, he said.

However, UERC has made no increase in the existing retail tariff for BPL or lifeline consumers and consumers living in snow-bound areas and they will continue to pay Rs.1.50 per kWh.

For non-domestic consumers like educational institutions, hospitals and other charitable institutions, the Commission has increased the tariffs to Rs.3.20 per kWh from the existing Rs.3.00.

The fixed charges for all sub-categories of non-domestic consumers has also been marginally increased from Rs.15 per kWh per month to Rs.20.

Tariffs for private tube wells marginally have increased from Rs.0.70 per kWh to 0.80.

For lowest tariff (LT) industrial category, the Commission has increased the fixed charges from Rs.70 per kW per month to Rs.80. The peak hour surcharge has been increased to 50 per cent from the existing level of 25 per cent.

However, the off-peak rebate has been increased to 10 per cent from the existing level of 5 per cent for LT industrial consumers. Overall tariff increase has been around 16 per cent.

The Commission has also approved energy charges of Rs.3.15 per kWh instead of the existing rate of Rs.2.75 and fixed charges of Rs.80 per kw per month from Rs.70.

For highest tariff (HT) industrial consumers, there is a marginal increase in demand charges from Rs.150 per kVA to Rs.160 upto 1000 kVA and from Rs.200 kVA to Rs.220 above 1000 kVA.

The Commission has also specified peak hour surcharge, which would be 50 per cent of the energy charges for the highest slab for all HT industrial consumers. The overall average tariff increase on HT industrial category has been around 17 per cent. --PTI

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