The ‘Time of Day' (ToD) tariff system — under which consumers will have to pay more for power consumption during peak hours and less for consumption during non-peak hours — has now been made mandatory for industries and other consumers with a contracted demand of 500 KVA and more coming under the categories of High Tension 2 (a) and 2 (b).
According to the tariff order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday, the mandatory clause will come into effect from September 1.
Explaining the new system, KERC Chairman M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy said the consumers covered under the ToD system would have to pay an additional Re. 1 for every unit consumed during the evening peak time of 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. At the same time, they would get a rebate of Rs. 1.25 on every unit consumed during the non-peak hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
He said such a system was being adopted to discourage the use of power during peak hours and to help manage power supply in a better way and prevent load-shedding during peak hours. The ToD system may require industries to reschedule working shifts while power utilities have to install special meters that could record the time of consumption. The ToD system was introduced in the State on an optional basis in 2009-10, he said.
Subsidy hike
The subsidy to be paid by the government towards free power supply to 19.45 lakh irrigation pump sets (below 10 HP capacity) and 28.16 lakh Bhagya/Kutir Jyothi consumers has been increased from Rs. 4,156 crore in 2011-12 to 4,722 crore this year. The bulk of this is due to the increase in consumption of IP sets that is estimated to go up from 14,297 million units in 2011-12 to 14,875 million units this fiscal.
The increase in consumption of IP sets was due to the double impact of addition of new IP sets and increase in consumption by the existing ones.
Interestingly, the State Budget has allocated a subsidy of only Rs. 4,600 crore to the power sector. This would mean that the amount has to be increased in the supplementary estimates by Rs. 122 crore.
Mr. Murthy also said that subsidy arrears of about Rs. 2,000 crore was pending from the government. The government has been told to pay this at a rate of Rs. 800 crore a year over three years, commencing from 2011, he added.
Distribution loss
The commission has also revised the Escoms-wise targets on reduction of distribution losses. Accordingly, the average distribution loss in the State has to be reduced from the present 16.16 per cent to 15.36 per cent this fiscal. The commission has not increased the solar rebate of Rs. 50 a month.
