 "Kerala hikes power tariff, exempts farm sector")
Accordingly, domestic consumers will have to pay 12 per cent extra while the average hike for industrial users is 7 per cent.
However, the commission has exempted the agriculture sector from the hike. The per unit charge for the agriculture sector and allied purposes stands at Rs 1.50 per each unit.
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There will also be no change in the rate of domestic consumption up to 40 units per month. The decision would benefit around 2.5 million consumers in the state.
Post the hike, the average industrial tariff stands at Rs 4.7 from the existing Rs 4.25. There will be a fixed charge of Rs 20 per month for single phase domestic consumers and Rs 60 for three-phase connections.
However, leaving unchanged the present telescopic slab system for consumers who use electricity up to 300 units per month, it applied the non-telescopic billing system for the consumers of above 300 units per month.
The commission has proposed the latest hike after it estimated a revenue deficit of Rs 1,050 crore for the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in the current financial year. Earlier, KSEB had submitted a projected revenue of Rs 8,478 crore and expenditure of Rs 11,237 crore for the 2013-14 fiscal, showing a revenue deficit of Rs 2,759 crore.
The board proposes to set off Rs 1,574 crore deficit through the hike. The commission has finalised the projected revenue at Rs 8,496 crore and expenditure at Rs 9,546 crore and ordered to set off the Rs 650 crore revenue loss through the proposed hike. Fixed charges would not be changed, though KSEB had requested to raise the same, the commission stated in a release .
The rates were increased in last July when the average hike was 30 per cent. The tariff for house connections was increased then after a gap of ten years.