In a major relief to the domestic power consumers and farmers having private tube wells, the power tariff has not been hiked by the power regulator in the tariff order for the current financial year 2016-17 announced here on Monday.
The power regulator UP electricity regulatory commission has however announced overall hike of 3.18 percent in power tariff for all other categories of the power consumers which will help the four power distribution companies —all subsidiaries of the UP Power Corporation limited (UPPCl) to stabilise their financial bottom line.
UPPCl in its annual revenue requirement petition filed before the regulator in April this year had asked for hike of 5.75 percent in tariff. The regulator however approved hike of only 3.18 percent, which is estimated to fetch additional revenue of Rs 1,537 crore to the UPPCl during the current financial year 20160-17. Even after the hike in tariff the revenue gap or the cash loss of UPPCl is estimated to be Rs 7,598 croee in 2016-17.The accumulated loss of the UPPCl is over Rs 75,000 crore by the end of March this year.
The domestic consumers of NOIDA where the power distribution is handled by a private company have also been spared from the hike in tariff. The farmers having private small tube wells have also been spared from the hike in tariff. Power regulator has also announced relief for the farmers of Bundelkhand region and they will pay only Rs 100 per BHP till the installation of the meter applicable for the private tube well.
In another relief to the power consumers the power regulator has abolished the regulatory surcharge-I, imposed by the power distribution companies to cover their cash losses. Power regulator has also reduced the regulatory surcharge-II to 3.03 percent from the present 4.28 percent.
To encourage the consumers for making payments of the electricity bill on or before due date the rebate has been increased from 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent. This will benefit both the consumers and power distribution companies.
The regulator has however announced a steep hike of 7.24 percent for the commercial category of consumers and 8.83 percent for the state tube wells and other government consumers like the pump canals of the irrigation department. The farmers having private tube wells have also been spared from the hike in tariff.
This was the lowest ever hike in the tariff order announced by the power regulator during the present Samajwadi Party regime.. In the fifth and the last tariff order of the current regime as the state goes to pools in first quarter of 2017, this was the lowest ever hike of only 3.18 percent. In 2012-13, the tariff was increased by 17.60 percent, and 8.9 percent in 2013-14 and 5.47 percent in 2015-16 and 3.18 percent for 2016-17.
Releasing the tariff order chairman of the UP electricity regulatory commission Desh Deepak Verma said ``tariff has been designed so as to compensate the rising cost of the power utilities without putting excessive load on the consumers. Efforts have been made to ensure that the effective tariff for the consumers having lower consumption will be lesser as compared to the consumers having higher consumption’’. He added that `` this would discourage the consumers to consumer more electricity and contribute to power savings.
He said for the wider acceptability of the pre paid meters, power regulator has retained the discount of 1.25 percent of charge for pre paid consumers. This facility has also been extended to the non domestic consumers like schools, hospitals, charitable organisations.
For promoting the use of solar energy the regulator has exempted the payment of minimum charges by the non domestic consumers like schools, hospitals and government institutions who have installed and operated a fully functional solar plant with capacity equal to their contracted load. The regulator has also decided to continue the rebate of Rs 100 per month to the domestic consumers using solar water heaters.
The regulator has also directed the five discoms under UPPCl to procure power to meet the demand on real time basis. UPPCl has also been asked to take into consideration the prevailing rates on the energy exchange while procuring power and should try to minimize the cost of power purchase as much as possible. The regulator has approved BST (bulk supply rate0 of Rs 4.26/kwh against Rs 4.44 demanded by the UPPCl. The average cost of supply approved by the regulator is Rs 6.35/kwh against the demand for Rs 6.71/kwh by the UPPCl.
The NOIDA power company limited (NPCl) the private company handling power distribution has reported the lowest distribution loss of 8 percent against the average loss of 21.70 percent of the five discoms under UPPCl.
The power regulator in the tariff order has directed the UPPCl to optimally utilise its resources and undertake various efficiency improvement measures to bridge the revenue gap for 2016-17, thereby ensuring that least burden is passed on to the consumers for the recovery of revenue gap and tariff increase.