Haryana Government on Thursday announced an increase of about 8.5 per cent in power tariff with effect from April 1, 2015. A spokesperson of the State Government said that the tariff for consumption of 0-50 units will be Rs 2.70 per unit as compared to the cost of supply of Rs7.34 per unit.
In this category, the benefit will be available to more than 20 lakh domestic consumers in the State. In case of consumption of 50 to 100 units, the charges will be Rs4.50 per unit. And in case of first 50 units, the rate will be Rs2.70 per unit in the State.
For other categories of consumers, an average increase of about 8.5 per cent has been made in power tariff. In case of high tension industries, the tariff will be Rs7.46 per unit while in case of low tension industries it will be Rs6.76 per unit, said the spokesperson.
For commercial category, the effective tariff of power upto 100 units consumption will be Rs6. 20 per unit. The spokesperson said that slight increase in power tariff for 2015-16 announced in the order of Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) will not have any impact on electricity bills of farmers and of economically weaker sections.
Also, the power tariff in Haryana for various categories of consumers would be lower than neighbouring states like Punjab and Delhi.
The farmers will be paying 10 paise per unit in the case of tubewells on which the meters have been installed, and Rs15 per BHP for the tubewells on flat rate basis as against the average cost of supply of electricity to the tubewells used for irrigation of crops as well as for horticulture purposes which is about Rs7.34 per unit.
The State Government has decided to release 7,000 additional tubewell connections to the farmers during the current financial year and also announced an amount of Rs6,200 crore on subsidy for farmers in the state, added the spokesperson.
Notably, the cash-strapped state electricity distribution companies (discoms) — Uttar Haryana Bijli Nigam ltd (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam ltd (DHBVN) — had proposed a 15 per cent hike in power tariff for all categories of consumers last year. According to ARR petitions, UHBVN and DHBVN had projected revenue gaps of Rs3,898 crore and Rs2,820 crore respectively.