The Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (CSERC) has announced a hike of 15 per cent in the average power tariff rates on Thursday.
The revised rates will come into effect from July 1, 2014 and will remain applicable till March 31, 2015 or until further orders, whichever comes later, an official press release informed here on Thursday.
The hike in the electricity rates will help the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) to cover revenue deficit of `807 crores in the financial year 2014-15.
According to the Commission, the CSPDCl had demanded for an annual revenue of `9526 crore and an average rate of `5.64 per unit for the financial year 2014-15.
The CSERC had undertaken detailed analysis of the annual revenue requirement of the Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company ltd (CSPGCl) , Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Company ltd (CSPTCl) and Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) for the year 2010-11 and 2011-12.
The Commission had approved the annual revenue requirement of `7437 crore demanded by CSPDCl for the financial year 2014-15 after adjustment of `465 crore subsidy provided by the State government. On the basis of these figures, the average distribution cost comes to be `4.40 per unit.
The Commission analysed the projected revenue deficit of `807 crore by CSPDCl for the financial year and therefore decided to increase the average rate by 15 per cent, it stated.
The average domestic rate in the previous year was 64% of the average distribution cost. The Commission increased it to 69% as per the provisions of tariff policy.
Similarly, the average electricity rate for agricultural consumers in the previous year was 37 % of the average distribution cost. It has been increased to 57% as per the provisions of the tariff policy.