Uttaranchal steel units to pay for old power at new rates

The Uttaranchal Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) today issued an order for the revision of tariffs for steel industrial units and other power-intensive units (PIUs), reducing the rate by 65 paise per unit for 2005-06.

The tariff for 2004-05 has been reduced by 72 paise per unit. The tariffs for other consumers had not been changed, a UERC official said.

Under the new tariff regime, steel units will now have to pay Rs 3.20 per unit in place of Rs 3.85 for 2005-06. For 2004-05, the tariffs for the steel units have been set at Rs 3.17 per unit in place of Rs 3.89.

It may be recalled that the UERC in its order of August 24, 2004, had placed such PIUs in a category and set their tariffs in a way that cheaper power available to Uttaranchal Power Corporation Ltd was supplied to other consumers and costlier power was allocated to PIUs, the statement said.

Appeals against the 2004 order were filed before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity by some steel units of the state.

The tribunal in its order of June 2 this year directed the the UERC to pool the cost of the power purchased by the UPCL and charge it from all consumers at the uniform average rate.

The UERC was directed to re-determine the tariffs for steel units with the retrospective effect (2004).

However, Yogesh Jindal, director of Kashi Vishwanath Steels Ltd (KVSL), who has been campaigning for lowering the power tariffs of the steel units, was not pleased with the new order of the UERC.

"We want power tariffs for all steel units to be clubbed with High Tension (HT) units," Jindal said. At present, the power tariffs of HT units are pegged at Rs 2.50 per unit.

It was KVSL which had filed a petition before the Appellate Tribunal, challenging the earlier tariffs of the UERC.