Electricity rates are set to get cheaper in Haryana by as much as 16.43 per cent for the 2015-16 period.
Power consumers having consumption between 101 to 500 units per month would now get a benefit of 50 paise per unit for initial 150 units consumption, says the latest HERC order.
All the consumers having monthly consumption between 500 to 800 units per month would now get the benefit of lower tariff slabs also, an official said here today.
"The Commission has now revised the tariff for category of consumers having consumption of more than 100 units/month and up to 800 units/month by giving them the slab benefit as was available in this tariff order for financial year 2014-15.
The Commission was of the view that a large number of lower middle class consumers fall under this category and will therefore benefit from the revised DS tariff," the order said.
The power regulator has also reduced the monthly minimum charges for domestic category consumers.
"To cushion the tariff shock to the genuine very small DS consumers, subsisting at the margin of the society, the Commission reduced MMC from Rs 120/month to Rs 115/month for connected load up to 2 kW for the marginal DS consumers as given above. The MMC for all other domestic category shall, however, remain unchanged," as per the order.
"The impact of these changes in the domestic tariff/MMC on the ARR for the financial year 2015-16 will be offset through efficiency gain by way of cost reduction including O&M expenses, the uncovered revenue gap of Rs 667.11 crore for financial year 2015-16 as given in the Tariff Order dated May 7, 2015 shall remain unchanged," it said.
The BJP-led Haryana government is facing criticism from various quarters, including consumers and political parties, for considerable increase in electricity bills of people.
The Opposition, including the Indian National Lok Dal and the Congress, had held statewide protests and sit-ins to lodge their protest against the increase in power bills.
