In a major relief to around 67.98 lakh power consumers in the State, Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) on Monday ruled out any increase in the power tariff, power bills of domestic consumers consuming up to 800 units per month is set to be lower by about 10 per cent.
HERC in its order on annual revenue requirement (ARR) of the power discoms for the year 2020-2021 has provided relief to agro industry with nearly Rs 2 per unit reduction in power tariff.
The order, issued by Deepinder Singh Dhesi, Chairman, and Pravindra Singh Chauhan and Naresh Sardana, members, will be effective from June 1, 2020, for state’s over 67.98 lakh power consumers.
The order states that the subsidy of the State Government and reduction in the applicable tariff from Rs 4.50 to 2.50 per unit by HERC for 0-150 units category will have a telescopic impact on consumers consuming up to 800 units.
Sources said with 42 per unit reduction in tariff in this category (0-150 units), a 10 per cent overall reduction in the electricity is expected for domestic consumers.
Now, for domestic consumers, the lowest tariff will be Rs 2 per unit for consumers consuming up to 50 units. The tariff for 51-150 units will be Rs 2.50 per unit while the power tariff for 151-250 units will be Rs 5.25. For 251-500 units it will be Rs 6 30 per unit. The highest tariff for domestic consumers will be Rs 7.10 per unit for consumers in the range of 501-800.The power consumers consuming power above 800 units will also be charged at the rate of Rs 7.10 per unit as per order. The power tariff for industrial sector ranged from Rs 6.35 to Rs 6.95 per unit depending on consumption and category.
To give a boost to the agro industry, a special category has been created under which power consumption up to 20 KW will be charged at the rate Rs 4.75 as against the current tariff of Rs 7.05 per unit. The agriculture sector consumers will continue to pay 10 paise per unit for running their
tubewells.
The order asked discoms to install 10 lakh smart meters within six months and also provide pre-paid connections to consumers having smart meters. It also asked the discoms to make Panchkula or any other city having tourism potential as a solar-powered city.