Religious sites, villas, and garages reclassified; new tariff likely from June, subject to approval
PANAJI
In a major reform, the Goa Electricity Department has proposed reclassification and precision-categorisation of consumers for billing in its five-year business plan and tariff petition which came up for scrutiny at a public hearing conducted by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) in Panaji on Friday.
Temples, churches, mosques and religious institutions have been classified as a separate category and so are garages and wellness centres. Another category classified and which will be billed at higher rates are villas and farmhouses. All these power consumers are currently categorised as 'Low Tension Domestic' (LTD) consumers.
This was articulated by Chief Electrical Engineer (CEE) Stephen Fernandes in his presentation of the GED's business plan cum tariff petition at the public hearing.
Fernandes also articulated separate and new categorisation of several other types of consumers, such as government research institutions, government-aided institutions and hospitals besides public charitable trust run organisations which currently are being build either as low-tension domestic (LTD) or low-tension commercial (LTC) consumers.
Fernandes during his roughly 25-minute presentation also articulated the department's robust capital expenditure investments over the next five years which he claimed would surpass the Rs 6,000 crore mark.
Underground cabling, new substations and replacement of old, aging infrastructure such as transformers and conductors were some of
the areas where this investment will be made, Fernandes said.
As for the proposal for a tariff hike of an average 5.9% across all consumers, the chief electrical engineer justified it claiming that overall power demand and infrastructure costs were rising with the State's average load having increased by 10-12 per cent over the last three years.
In its five year business plan from 2025-26 right up to 2029-30, the GED has also proposed hikes in tariff of 5.64 per cent and 4.88 per cent in 2026-27 and 2027-28 respectively and unchanged tariff in the last two years. The hike in tariffs will be applicable to all categories of consumers including domestic and low income domestic consumers who consume up to 50 units with a connected load of up to 150 kW.
Fernandes said, currently the low income consumer category was being billed at Rs 20 for consumption of 50 units with no fixed charges. Under the new tariff plan if approved, this consumer will be charged Rs 20 as load-based fixed charges plus Rs 50 at one rupee per unit, he added.
Meanwhile, Fernandes said costs of buying additional power especially when demand rises have been increasing.
"In summer the load increases by another 25 to 30 per cent when the cost (market rate) to buy additional power spikes to Rs 10 per unit," Fernandes said, adding that if approved, the tariff hike proposal, the new tariffs will be implemented from June 2025 onwards, Fernandes said.
