the goan I network
PANAJI
Domestic consumers will have to shell out 11.48 per cent more on an average for power consumption from April. This has been approved by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) and interestingly, this is the highest hike in power tariff for domestic consumers for the financial year, 2018-19.
On an average, agricultural consumers will have to pay 9.38% more for power, while industrial and commercial consumers will be shelling out 5.81% and 3.79% more for power respectively from April 1. Meanwhile, the JERC has kept the power tariff unchanged for military engineering services and hoardings/ signboards.
Domestic consumers with 0-100 units consumption will have to pay Rs 1.4 per unit (compared to Rs 1.3 per unit earlier). For domestic consumers with 101-200 units consumption, new tariff rate is Rs 2.1 per unit compared to Rs 1.9 per unit earlier.
JERC has also revised the fixed charges from Rs 20 per consumer per month to Rs 25 for single phase low tension domestic consumers. The fixed charges are now increased to Rs 60 per consumer per month from Rs 45 earlier for low tension domestic consumers with a three phase connection.
For industrial low tension consumers with consumption upto 500 units, JERC has increased the per unit rate to Rs 3.3 from Rs 3.1 earlier, besides increasing the fixed charge to Rs 35 per HP per month from Rs 30 earlier.
Low tension commercial consumers with less than 100 units consumption will now have to pay Rs 3.4 per unit compared to Rs 3.25 per unit earlier.
The JERC has increased tariff slab even for hotels. The low tension hotel consumers will now have to pay Rs 4.70 per unit for power compared to Rs 4.50 earlier. Fixed charges for such consumers have been increased to Rs 40/kW/Month from Rs 30/kW/Month.
The JERC has further pointed out that the tariff increase would have been much higher if the state government had not provided budgetary assistance to the Electricity Department.
The JERC even cautioned the Electricity Department by saying that it should prepare itself in case the state government withdraws the assistance in future.
Had the state government not provided assistance to the Electricity Department, tariff for domestic consumers would have shot up by 32.04% compared to 11.48% as of now.
The State government subsidises several kinds of consumers when it comes to power. The agriculture sector gets the highest power subsidy from the government. And, therefore, it is not surprising when JERC report mentioned that agriculture consumers would have paid a whopping 49.93% more for power had the state government not provided any assistance to the Electricity Department.
