Consumers in the Union Territory would now have to shell out more towards electricity charges from April 2018 with the Puducherry Electricity Department (PED) proposing an increase in tariff for domestic and other categories of consumers under the multi-year tariff (MYT) system. The tariff has been revised to bridge the revenue gap of Rs. 212.22 crore from 2016-2019 and to earn additional revenue of Rs. 128.64 crore.
The PED catered to 4.9 lakh consumers of which 3.35 lakh are in the domestic category, 35,539 consumers under One Hut One Bulb service, 53,224 under commercial category and 6,836 agriculture connections.
The previous tariff revision was done in 2015. As per the proposed tariff submitted to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), the energy charge for consumption of up to 100 units (domestic service) would be increased to Rs. 1.40 per unit from Rs. 1.10 per unit.
Domestic category
For consumption of 101 to 200 units per month, the PED has proposed tariff of Rs. 2.10 from Rs. 1.75 per unit while for 201 to 300 units the increase had been proposed from Rs. 3.50 to Rs. 3.90 per unit. For consumption above 300 units the increase would be Rs. 5.05 per unit.
Commercial category
In the commercial category, for consumption of first 100 units, the power tariff would be increased to Rs. 5.30 from Rs. 4.70. For consumption from 101 to 250 units per month, the tariff would be hiked to Rs. 6.30per unit from Rs. 5.60 per unit. For consumption above 250 units per month ,the increase would be Rs. 6.85 per unit.
The hike in tariff had been proposed across commercial segments, cottage industry, poultry farms, horticulture and pisciculture, low-tension and high-tension consumers.
For HT (1) (a) and (b) category the fixed charges had remained the same, the energy consumption charges have gone up to Rs. 5.80 per unit from Rs. 5.25 per unit.
For HT (II), the energy consumption charges has bene proposed from Rs. . 4.80 per unit to Rs. . 5.50 per unit. For HT (III), the fixed charges are at 250 per kVA per month, while the energy consumption charges woulld be increased to Rs. 6.75 per unit to Rs. 7.30 per unit.
The increase in revenue gap is mainly due to increase in cost of power from the central generating stations, increase in cost of power from NLC TS 1 to Karaikal region through Tangedco and increase in employee cost due to impact of seventh pay commission and recruitment of employees.
Meanwhile, JERC would hold a public hearing on Annual Revenue Expenditure and Tariff petition for 2018-19 on Wednesday.
The public hearing was slated to start at 11 a.m. at 81, Laporte Street, PMSSS Hall, Puducherry. The JERC had requested the public to express their views before the panel. More information was available atwww.jercuts.gov.in
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