BERC to announce new power tariff on Monday

Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) will announce the new power tariff for the year 2016-17 for different categories of consumers on Monday.

"The Commission will announce tomorrow its new tariff order for 2016-17," BERC Secretary Parmanand Singh told PTI.

The new tariff rate would be effective from April 1, 2016.

Two distribution companies, North and South Bihar Power Distribution Company, filed the tariff petition before the commission in December, seeking an increase of around 9 to 10% in the rates for 2016-17 for different categories of power consumers.

According to the petition, power distribution companies have sought a hike of 30 paise per unit for rural consumers, while it sought an increase of 35 and 45 paise per unit for urban domestic and commercial consumers, respectively.

The commission, which is a regulatory body entrusted with the job of fixing electricity tariff rate for all kinds of consumers, has already completed public hearings at eight different cities across the state.

BERC had made a marginal hike of 10 to 15 paise per unit in the electricity tariff rate across the board for the current financial year, while it kept the power tariff rates unchanged for all types of consumers in the previous fiscal (2014-15).