Electricity tariff down for the first time in nearly 15 years

While there is a reduction of 110 paise per unit for domestic consumers who consume over 100 units of electricity, consumers of less than 100 units — beneficiaries of Gruha Jyothi scheme — will have to pay 115 paise more per unit.

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has announced an early revision of tariff for the year 2024-25.  | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) made an early tariff revision announcement for the financial year 2024–25 on Wednesday. For the first time in nearly 15 years, there is a significant reduction in energy charges of electricity tariff across different categories.

This comes after the KERC approved one of the steepest hikes in tariff, 70 paise a unit, in the previous year (FY 2023–24). The new tariff structure will come into effect from April 1.

The commission has announced a reduction of 110 paise a unit (energy charges) for LT – 1 domestic lighting category consumers, who consume over 100 units of electricity. However, for consumers of less than 100 units, who are essentially the beneficiaries of the Gruha Jyothi scheme, energy charges will go up by 115 paise a unit.

The KERC has also merged LT – 1 Bhagya Jyothi/Kuteera Jyothi category and LT 2 (a) domestic category into LT – 1 domestic lighting category this time. This was based on the government’s decision to merge the categories in the wake of the introduction of Gruha Jyothi.

For HT commercial consumers, energy charges have been reduced by 125 paise a unit and for HT industrial, the charges have been reduced by 50 paise a unit. Demand charges have been reduced by ₹10 per KVA for both categories.

“Marginal surplus found for the financial year 2024-25 has been utilised for readjustments of tariff across different tariff categories,” the tariff order said.

To bridge a revenue gap of ₹4,864.34 crore, the electricity supply companies (Escoms) had requested an average tariff hike of 66 paise for this year. Further, while Escoms had proposed ₹69,474.75 crore as the annual revenue requirement (ARR), after scrutiny of the applications, the commission approved an ARR of ₹64,944.54 crore.