Industries to pay 33 per cent more for power in Uttarakhand

Industries in Uttarakhand would now have to dole out extra bucks for their power bills.

In its new order, the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC), has increased the new power tariffs applied on various industries in the state by 10-33 per cent, UERC sources said.

For low tension (LT) industrial consumers, the commission has nominally increased the tarriff by 10-12 per cent considering the increase in average cost of supply and inflation.

Under the revised tariff approved by the commission for LT industrial consumers, the charges would be Rs 2.75 per unit instead of the existing rate of Rs 2.45 per unit. The fixed charge has also been increased to Rs 70 per Kw per month in place of the existing charge of Rs 60 per Kw.

High Tension (HT) industry consumers with load factor up to 33 per cent shall pay the energy charge of Rs 2.20 per KVAh. Those with load factor above 33 per cent and up to 50 per cent shall pay Rs 2.40 per KVAh and those above 50 per cent shall pay Rs 2.65 per KVAh. Demand charges have been staggered on the basis of the size of the industries.

HT industries with load up to 1000 KVA shall pay demand charges of Rs 150 per KVA per month and those above this load shall pay Rs 200 per KVA per month.

Industries Association of Uttarakhand president Pankaj Gupta, however, criticised the new hike saying the move would put extra burden on the industries. "Increase in electricity tariffs will affect the industries," he said.

Though the steel industry has been given some relief, which has been clubbed with HT industry. This means the hike imposed on the steel industry in the past now stands cancelled. "A separate category of steel unit has now been done away with and from now on, there is only one category of HT industries," an official of UERC said.

Yogesh Jindal, a top steel industrialist in Uttarakhand, welcomed the move saying the UERC has accepted the longstanding demand of the steel industry in the state.

Despite the increase in the rate of average cost of supply and inflationary pressures, there is no increase in retail tariff for domestic consumers.

Only a nominal fixed charge of Rs 15 per month per connection in addition would be charged to meet the fixed charges of the distribution company to serve the consumers effectively and efficiently.