Bringing the industry on a par with domestic consumers, the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has announced new tariffs for the year 2011-12 with an average increase of five per cent across the state.
Under the new order, the UERC has fixed rates in such a way that all consumes, including domestic, non-domestic and industrial, would have to pay five per cent more in the current financial year despite the state government’s reluctance to go in for any hike in the election year.
In its annual revenue requirement, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), the sole electricity distribution licensee in the state, had projected a gap of Rs 2,152 crore, considering the distribution loss of 18 per cent, and requested the commission to allow a raise of 31 per cent to meet its minimum cash requirement.
“We dismissed this request and instead fixed the power tariffs with an average increase of five percent across the board,” said Neeraj Sati, secretary UERC.
Unlike in previous occasions where UERC had followed the advice of the government, this year the Commission had issued new tariffs complying with the direction of the appellate tribunal for electricity which wanted no interference in determination of the new tariffs.
Tariffs for the first 100 units would be increased by Rs 0.05 per unit, for 100-200 units: Rs 0.1 per unit and for 201 and above units: Rs 0.2 per unit. The fixed charges for all three categories have been increased to Rs 25 from Rs 20.
The UERC has also introduced fixed charges of Rs 5 per month for below poverty line consumers in snowbound areas.
No extra burden has been put on the 10,155 industrial consumers in the hill state.
For low-tension industries, the fixed charges (upto 25 kW) have been increased to Rs 85 from 80 and energy charges from Rs 3.25 per kWh to Rs 3.35/kWh.
In high-tension category, the average increase is five per cent. Last year, UERC had fixed a nominal raise of three to five per cent for the industry.
