The electricity consumers of the State will have to consume costly electricity once again, if Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC) advisory committee approves the proposed rate of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL).
JSERC advisory committee held a meeting on Thursday to discuss revised tariff of electricity for the upcoming financial year 2019-20. According to the proposal of the State’s electricity transmission company JBVNL, the rate for domestic consumers of electricity will increase to Rs 6/kwh as against the current rate of Rs 5.50/ kwh for urban consumers. Similarly, for rural domestic consumers there is Rs 1.25/kwh increase. The proposed rate for domestic consumers in Rural areas is also Rs 6 per unit against the current rate of Rs 4.75 per unit. The company has also increased fixed charges for both the rural and urban consumers.
Speaking on the issue JBVNL, Managing Director, Rahul Purwar said, the government owned company has proposed hike in electricity tariff after consideration on various issues and comparing it with other states’ electricity rates. “We have discussed various issues and there are still some challenges, but it is sure that we will remove all hurdles before March and the new tariff will be implemented in the beginning of new financial year,” he added.
Purwar said that the JBVNL has to meet the operational expenses and to reduce gap between average cost supply and average revenue realisation.
“The Company has to invest more in capital expenditure for providing reliable and quality power and better consumer services and the company has to achieve turnaround and maintain financial health,” he added.
Speaking on the key features of the tariff proposal the MD said, “On the basis of National Tariff Policy 2016, slabs among the tariff categories and sub-categories have been removed for simplification of tariff. The Tariff for unmetered category has been removed in compliance with the Directives of the Commission for all categories. There is plan for converting unmetered consumers to metered consumers.”
“There are 20, 73,605 unmetered connections. Out of total requirements, around 3.8 lakh meters are already under installation under DDUGJY Scheme, with completion deadline of February 19.
From the remaining 12.81 lakh meters, the metering of 7.80 lakh consumers have been allocated to existing agencies working in various districts under DDUGJY Scheme. Metering of remaining 5.01 lakh consumers is being targeted departmentally with the target of completion in March, 2019,” he added.
During the meeting JSERC invited representatives of various sections of people including representatives of businessmen, industrialist and villagers to give their suggestions to the committee.
