After the recent hike in property tax, the electricity charges may soon follow suit. Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji, in a press meet held here on July 18, announced a proposed revision of electricity tariff, which has been submitted to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC). Electricity charges were increased a decade ago by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in November 2011.
Giving a broad perspective leading to the proposed increase in the electricity tariff, he said a bunch of factors — constant, burgeoning losses, failure of the previous State government to amortise the huge liabilities under the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme, increasing purchase cost of electricity and a need to improve the transmission network — have forced the Electricity Department to opt for this revenue increasing measure.
Mr. Senthilbalaji said in the proposed tariff revision, 42% of domestic consumers, comprising a total of 2.37 crore domestic and hut consumers, would not have any increase in their charges, and the 100 units of free electricity scheme would be continued. However, a provision to voluntarily surrender the free units would be introduced. Electricity charges would be increased for those domestic consumers using more than 100 units.
The Minister said for those using up to 200 units (63.35 lakh), the increase would be ₹27.50 per month. For consumers using up to 300 units (36.25 lakh), the rise would be ₹72.50 per month.
Those using up to 400 units (18.82 lakh) would get a proposed hike of ₹147.50 per month, and the ones using 500 units (10.56 lakh) would get a hike of ₹297.50 monthly.
Domestic consumers using more than 500 units, considered to be the ‘creamy layer’, will see their electricity bill increasing by ₹155 per month for 600 units, ₹275 a month for 700 units, ₹395 per month for 800 units and ₹565 per month for 900 units. The electricity charges are actually billed for a bimonthly period.
The Electricity Department has also proposed to increase the electricity charges for commercial and other categories of consumers, with low tension commercial connections expected to see an increase of ₹1.15 per unit, private educational institutes a hike of ₹1 per unit, powerlooms a 70-paise hike for using more than 750 units and a 50-paise hike for small and micro industries.
The Electricity Department has also proposed to charge a separate amount of ₹225 for those consumers having more than one electricity connection, and a separate tariff to be fixed for common lights, lift and water distribution in multistorey apartments, which are at present charged under the common service category.
Mr. Senthilbalaji said he had proposed the removal of fixed charges, adding that this was announced in the election manifesto of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
While the Electricity Department has proposed to increase the power tariff, the protocol is that the TNERC has to conduct public hearings and seek feedback from consumers before taking a decision.
