CESC has been granted a five paise average rise in tariff against its petition for a 27 paise rise by the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the year 2008-09, taking its tariff up to 391 paise per unit.
ERC did not declare the tariff for the two following fiscals.
ERC was expected to review performance and customer behaviour and issue its next tariff order within March 2009.
“ERC is now calculating the costs of generation and distribution. ERC may be expected to review the actual performance against projected performance and take a decision within March 2009 for revised tariff from April 2009”, said a CESC spokesperson.
According to the last tariff order, CESC's average tariff was 375 paise per unit, and it was raised to around 386 paise after addition of fuel surcharge in February this year.
CESC had estimated a Rs190 crore rise in revenues if its tariff petition was granted entirely. Its additional revenue would be Rs35 crore following the 5 paise rise. The company posted a revenue of Rs 2930 crore for FY08.
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The average rise in tariff for different categories of users was in the range of two to three per cent. Domestic units consuming up to 25 units would now pay 10 paise less, while other small domestic consumers up to 150 units would pay the same. “The company will collect arrears from its consumers payable in six installments starting from October as the revised tariff is applicable from April this year. In case of consumers enjoying a decline in tariff, the amount will be adjusted in subsequent bills”, the spokesperson said. Low tension customers, a fast growing segment, constituted nearly 64 per cent of its customer base now, with 36 per cent being high-tension users. CESC tariff at present was one of the lowest in the country, lower by 200 paise compared to Mumbai, the company said in a press release. Reliance Energy was charged 585 paise per unit in Mumbai, while North Delhi Power charged 473 paise per unit in Delhi, said the release. The tariffs there were based on orders issued in June and February 2008 respectively.
The current CESC tariff was 5.8 per cent lower compared to its own 2003-04 tariff, if raw material price rise was factored in.
Coal prices had risen 29 per cent since 2003-04, oil prices had doubled and prices of aluminum and copper gone up by 54 per cent and 148 per cent respectively, claimed the company. ERC was expected to declare the revised tariff for West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL) soon.
The state government owned power utility with a customer base of around 68 lakh had proposed to raise the tariff from 327 paise per unit now to 335 paise per unit for 2008-09. WBSEDCL expected additional revenue of Rs 225 crore from the possible tariff revision.