PANAJI
From Sunday, power consumers will have to pay a 3.50 per cent higher tariff following approval from the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission.
“The Commission has approved an average tariff hike of 3.50% to further reduce the reliance of the Electricity Department on budgetary support from the Government of Goa. The Order shall come into force with effect from June 16, 2024 and shall, unless amended or revoked, continue to be in force till further orders of the Commission,” reads the order.
The Commission further stated that it has made every effort to rationalize the tariffs so that they gradually reflect the true cost to service a category of consumer in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Accordingly, the Commission approved relatively higher percentage increase in tariff for the cross-subsidized categories than the cross-subsidizing categories as against the department's proposal to hike the tariff by 3.48 percent.
Details shared on the Commission website mentioned that it has approved the Average Billing Rate (ABR) of Rs 5.34/kWh against the approved Average Cost of Supply (ACoS) of Rs 5.59/kWh.
The State government had last year conveyed its consent for providing the required budgetary support to meet the revenue gap for the year as may be approved by the Commission. The Commission acknowledged the letter of assurance towards meeting any prospective revenue gap for FY 2024-25 and hence the revenue gap for FY 2024-25 has been considered as Nil.
