Power tariff up by 40 paise per unit

Bengaluru: After by-elections to Sira and RR Nagar Assembly segments two days ago, the State Government has given a shock to the citizens by increasing the power tariff by 40 paise per unit with retrospective effect from Nov. 1.

Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has revised the power tariff and hiked it by 40 paise per unit with an average increase of 5.40 per cent, compared to 33 paise per unit last year. The hike in tariff is attributed to the rise in costs the Escoms are facing annually in transmission and maintenance. 

The KERC Commissioner issued the revision orders yesterday after holding a virtual meeting with the heads of all the Escoms. 

Tariff hike delayed by lockdown

The revision has come into effect from Nov. 1 but will reflect in the Dec. bill. Usually, the power tariff revision is done in April. However, this did not happen due to lockdown, election code of conduct and pendency of an appeal filed by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

The KERC has noted that against the revenue gap of Rs. 2,473 crore, an amount of Rs. 1,443 crore that would have been recovered as additional revenue towards tariff revision from Apr. 1, 2020, has been kept as regulatory asset. The KERC has approved a slab-wise increase in the tariffs ranging between 20-25 paise per unit across all categories, except Bengaluru Metro and battery charging stations for electric vehicles. There is also an increase of 50 paise per unit for temporary installations.

It also approved an increase in fixed charges by Rs. 10 per kilowatt/HP/kVA. The Commission has withdrawn the Re. 1 penalty it had imposed on high-tension (HT) industrial consumption for morning peak hour usage between 6 am and 10am and increased the rebate from 100 paise to 105 paise for installing LED lights in public spaces. It has ordered to impose a penalty of up to Rs. 1 lakh if Escoms fail to hold consumer interaction meetings at every sub-division office once in three months.

In the revision order, KERC has not hiked the charges for electric vehicles in HT and low tension (LT) categories, and the existing concessional tariff of Rs. 5 per unit will continue. This concessional tariff has also been extended to battery swapping units. For commercial users, the tariff in all Escoms has been hiked to Rs. 8.25 from the existing Rs. 8 for first 50 units. For HT commercial consumers in Bescom limits, the tariff has been hiked to Rs. 9.15 from Rs. 8.90 for first two lakh units. 

The Commission has also hiked the tariff for LT water supply installations from Rs. 4.60 to Rs. 4.85 per unit and from  Rs. 5.20 to Rs. 5.45 per unit for HT consumers.