The State is in for an average power tariff hike of 5 to 6 per cent from February.
Public hearings of the Kerala Electricity Regulatory Commission for eliciting complaints and suggestions on the tariff revision proposals would be completed by this month end and the final recommendations would be ready by February.
Given the acute power scarcity, dipping water levels in reservoirs owing to scanty rain, and the quantum of funds that the Kerala State Electricity Board is coughing up every year for power purchase, the proposals are likely to come into force without any modifications.
Power sector sources told The Hindu here that the hike for different category of customers is likely to range from zero to 14 per cent.
Commercial units
No revision has been mooted for commercial customers. But domestic users who consume between 50 and 250 units per month would have to bear the brunt of the tariff revision. The cost per unit for domestic consumers is likely to go up from the current ₹3.80 to ₹4.20. Industrial units too would not be spared. Consumers in the Below the Poverty Line category, who use up to 40 units, would be left untouched. The last tariff revision was in 2014 and there was an overall 11.5 per cent increase in the rates.
As per the National Tariff Policy, tariff is fixed on the basis of the cost of power supply incurred by the utility and financial capacity of the customers is not a benchmark. The policy does not approve of cross-subsidy either, sources said.
The government may not alter the final recommendations. On deciding to offer sops to any section, the government would have to bear the financial burden and recompensate the board for the cash loss it would suffer on that count. The government is striving hard to recover from the revenue loss incurred by demonetisation and is unlikely to come forward with a subsidy proposal for any section, sources said.
The looming crisis due heavy dependence on the truant monsoon and the hitches in having new hydel units have not come up for thorough discussion so far.