Haryana Power Department has decided to allow the consumers of the State to pay their energy bills in two to three installments.
Giving details about this, Nitin Yadav, Managing Director of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) on Thursday said that the decision has been taken keeping in view the general grievances of the consumers getting higher bills.
The slight increase in power tariff of various categories of consumers for 2015-16 was announced in the order of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) on May 7, 2015, which was applicable from April 1, 2015. This increased tariff accumulated as arrears could not be levied in the previous bills, and has to be recovered in the current energy bills of the consumers, said he.
Yadav clarified that the Haryana Government has made every possible effort to give relief to the farmers of the State by charging only 10 paisa per unit power in the case of tubewells on which the meters have been installed and `15 per BHP for the tubewells on flat rate basis, as against the average cost of supply of electricity for irrigation of crops as well as horticulture purpose, which is about `7.34 per unit.
He said that it was for the first time that a special category has been created for economically weaker sections of the society, with consumers having consumption less than 50 units. The tariff for this category is at subsidised rate of `2.85 per unit, as compared to the cost of supply of `7.34 per unit.
Under this category, more than 20 lakh consumers have been benefited throughout the State, he claimed.
For the other categories of consumers, including HT and lT industries, there is an average increase of about 8.5 percent in power tariff. In the case of commercial category, the power tariff is `6.20 for up to 100 units, whereas in case of consumption of up to 500 units, the power tariff in Haryana is `6.20, said Yadav.
Meanwhile, the Haryana Discoms have established around 246 special electricity bills counters in the State to redress the complaints relating to power bills of the consumers. The consumers can get their bills re-verified within three days on these counters located in their concerned sub division office.