The people will have to shell out more on their electricity bills as power tariffs have been hiked by an average of 7.1 per cent in the State from April 1, 2015. The hike in power tariff was announced by the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) chairman Subhash Kumar here in Dehradun on Saturday.
Uttarakhand Power Corporation (UPCl), the sole power Government-owned distribution company, asked to install meters in unmetered connection by June 30. The commission retained the status of snow-bound sub-category, though UPCl had sought its abolition.
In its petition, the UPCl had sought 26.24-per cent hike in power tariff citing the losses to the tune of Rs1,131.39 crore per annum. However, the revised rates which took effect from April 1 will not affect BPl families and small domestic consumers who do not consume more than 100 units of electricity per month. New sub-category has been created in RTS for independent advertisement hoardings.
Agriculture allied service such as Nurseries, Polyhouses, not involved in any kind of processing of farm produce, except for storage and preservation, has been shifted to a new category under RTS-4 as RTS 4A with tariff at around 50 per cent of average cost of supply.
The UERC has acknowledged the distinction between the quality of supply of PWW connections and public lamps in rural and urban areas. The Commission has furthermore specified differential fixed charges for rural and urban consumers of PWW and public lamps. However, the energy charges have been kept same.
Non-continuous processing industry can now opt for continuous supply of power by paying surcharge of 15 per cent of energy charge. Such willing consumers can apply for such supply till April 30. The consumers having prepaid meters would continue to be eligible for a rebate of four per cent (for Domestic) and three per cent (for other lT consumer) on energy charges as earlier.
The UERC has also asked UPCl to submit a concrete action plan for reduction of AT&C loss, Reduction of Defective meters, improvement of its collection system, improvement in recovery of arrears, classifying and writing off bad debts and conducting of energy audit. To ensure better energy audit, the commission has directed the UPCl to release all new connections with correct meters in accordance with CEA regulations.
The monthly fixed charge for domestic consumers has been hiked by Re 1 for lifeline consumers, Rs45 for connection up to 4 KW and Rs120 for connection above 4KW whereas power tariff has been increased from 10 paise to 50 paise per unit, Kumar said.
The hike in tariff for the first 100 units consumed will be at the rate of ten paise per unit ie, the revised cost will be Rs2.40 per unit; for consumption of 101 to 200 units, the hike will be 20 paise per unit ie, the new tariff will be Rs2.90 per unit; in the 201-400 slab the hike will be 45 paise per unit or Rs3.80 per unit; and, for the power consumed above 400 units the hike will be 50 paise per unit consumed ie, Rs4 per unit.