The city residents should brace themselves for a steep hike in power tariffs for the next financial year 2014-15. For, the UT Administration has proposed a power tariff hike of up to 21 per cent.
The UT Electricity Department on Tuesday filed its annual revenue requirement projections with the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), proposing a power tariff hike of up to 21 per cent for the next financial year 2014-15 starting April 1, 2014.
As per the proposed hike for domestic consumption, the power tariff for up to 150 units would be increased from existing Rs 2.30 to Rs 2.78. For the domestic consumption of 150-400 units, the UT Electricity Department has proposed tariff of Rs 4.60 while the existing tariff is Rs 4.20. For electricity above 400 units, an increase of 12.5 per cent from existing Rs 4.40 to Rs 4.95 has been proposed.
The Administration has also submitted hike in power tariff in categories including non residential areas, medium and small industries among others.
For non-domestic consumers, the tariff of Rs 4.70 from existing Rs 4.40 for using 0-150 units, Rs 5.30 from current Rs 4.50 for 150-400 units and Rs 5.70 from existing tariff of Rs 4.70 for above 400 units have been proposed by the UT Electricity Department.
While talking to The Pioneer, MP Singh, Superintending Engineer, UT Electricity wing said that a power tariff hike of up to 21 per cent has been proposed by the Department. The Electricity Department has submitted its proposal to the JERC on Tuesday.
He said, “The UT Electricity Department has proposed to cover the revenue shortfall through additional revenue from the proposed tariff revision.”
“Projecting the total revenue gap of Rs 156 crore, the UT Electricity Department has filed the petition with the JERC for a power tariff hike by upto 21 per cent in the city. An expenditure of Rs 800 crore on power for the next financial year 2014-15 is projected in Chandigarh. Hence, a hike in power tariff to cover the revenue losses has been proposed,” he added
During the current fiscal year 2013-14, the JECR had rejected the proposal of power tariff hike in the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The JERC has rejected the Electricity Department proposal of power hike stating that there is a surplus of Rs 1.57 crore and there is no need of power tariff hike. At that time, the UT Electricity Department had proposed 48.68 per cent increase in the existing tariff for financial year 2013-14. The Commission had also noticed discrepancies in the actual revenue furnished by the UT for 8 months of FY 2012-13 with the estimated revenue for FY 2012-13 submitted in ARR & Tariff Petition for FY 2013-14
In 2012, the city had witnessed hike in power tariff by upto 15 per cent for domestic consumers while in 2011, the residents had faced brunt of hike in power tariff by up to 31 per cent. Before 2011, the hike in power tariff was witnessed in the year 2005 here.