There has virtually been no increase in agricultural and industrial power tariff across states over the past year. Official data reveals that out of 14 states only Karnataka and Kerala have shown an increase in agricultural tariffs from 1996-97 to 1997-98. Industrial power tariffs on the other hand, have increased in only eight out of the 14 states during the same period. This increase is in the range of 1.5-9 per cent.
This is primarily attributed to the fact that industrial consumers are already over-taxed as they are levied the highest tariff _ in the range of Rs 3.5-5 a unit.
However, the overall tariff in these 14 states increased by around 9 per cent to 37 per cent, indicating that tariffs increased only in the domestic and commercial segments.
Trends in consumption figures show that the share of agricultural consumption is fast overtaking industrial consumption which will leave the state electricity boards strapped for cash if agricultural tariffs are not increased. Agricultural and industrial consumers form bulk of the consumption. Agricultural consumption is around 30 per cent and industrial consumption is 38 per cent. Even though in percentage terms the increase in agricultural power tariff in Karnataka is around 200 per cent, it only increased from 7.65 paise per unit to 22.96 paise per unit over this period.
Kerala witnessed only a 10.6 per cent increase in agricultural tariffs. In absolute terms the tariff increased from 59 paise per unit to 65 paise per unit. After the increase, agricultural tariffs cover roughly 59 per cent of the average cost of supply of electricity in the state.
Orissa, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh have not witnessed any rise in agricultural and industrial tariffs during this period.
Apart from Himachal Pradesh, all these states have been active in attracting private investment into the state but are tied down due the limited escrow cover arising out of the low levels of tariffs that they can offer to independent power producers.
