Bengaluru: Get ready to pay an extra 35 per paise per unit in your electricity bill as the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) yesterday announced an increase in power tariff.

The average hike is 35 paise per unit, which works out to an increase of 4.33 percent. KERC Chairman H.M. Manjunatha told the media that the increase comes into effect from Apr. 1. 

“Against the demand of Rs. 1.85 per unit by electric supply companies (ESCOMs), the Commission has increased the tariff by 5 paise per unit and hiked the fixed charges ranging between Rs. 10 and Rs. 30 per unit. The overall increase in tariff per unit is 35 paise,” Manjunatha added. Fixed energy costs are a base price a consumer has to pay regardless of the usage.

He said the demand of ESCOMs was rejected as they were unable to substantiate their claim with sufficient documents and the hike was pegged at 35 paise per unit. The revision of tariff will help ESCOMs recover a revenue deficit of Rs. 2,159.48 crore, which includes Rs. 1,700.49 crore deficit in the financial year 2021.

Manjunatha said the COVID pandemic brought down the sale of power by 7,228.65 MU (million units) in 2021-22, resulting in a revenue loss of Rs. 6,182.84 crore. Distribution losses are at 10 percent and transmission losses at 3 percent. For ESCOMs, the power purchase cost is Rs. 6.43 per unit, while the sale cost is Rs. 8.43 per unit.

The KERC Chairman appealed to the reporters to write about the difficulties faced by the Government in producing and supplying electricity. “The Government needs revenue to meet the costs. We should not blame the Government in any way. The Government can do good work only if we support it,” he said.

 The Commission has offered rebates to micro and small industries, concessions to seasonal industries like ice manufacturing units and cold storage plants. It has also continued the relaxation in evening peak tariff for use of power between 6 pm and 10 pm during the monsoon months (July to November).