PATNA: The
new electricity tariff for
fiscal 2018-19 was made effective on Sunday without announcement of corresponding subsidy by the state government.
State energy minister said Bijendra Prasad Yadav said on Sunday power subsidy would be announced after the Budget session of state legislature concludes on April 4.
“The decision regarding power subsidy will be taken after thorough assessment of the tariff order passed by Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) and financial position of the discoms. The final decision would be reflected in the consumers’ power bill for the month of April,” Yadav said.
This year, the BERC envisaged a ‘marginal’ hike of 5% for all categories of consumers except high-tension special service. The annual tariff order was passed without taking government subsidy for power consumers into consideration.
The per unit hike in power tariff for different categories of power consumers without subsidy is in the range of 40 to 60 paise.
For urban domestic consumers, it has approved Rs6.15 tariff per unit against existing rate of Rs5.75 per unit (without govt subsidy) for first 100 units while it would be Rs6.95 per unit against current 6.50 per unit for 101-200 units slab.
Similarly, the BERC approved Rs7.80 for a slab of 201-300 units against existing rate of Rs7.25 per unit while it would be Rs8.60 per unit above 300 units against the existing rate of Rs8 per unit.
BERC officials said the discoms, in their respective tariff petitions, had proposed to raise for different categories of consumers by 44%, but the regulatory authority allowed them only 5% increase. The discoms had also asked to increase the fixed monthly electricity charges by five times, but it was not approved.
Change in tariff structure apart, the power consumers would be able to enjoy a rebate of 2.5% on online bill payment.
The state energy department introduced a new system from last fiscal (2017-18), in which power distribution companies (discoms) of energy department file annual tariff petition with BERC, excluding subsidy. The state government announced subsidy after the BERC passed its tariff order and the subsidy amount was deducted from power consumers’ monthly bills.
Last year (2017-18), the BERC had given its nod for a hike of around 55% in the tariff for different categories of consumers, which came down to 20% after the state government extended funds to the tune of Rs2,952 crore against subsidy on power tariff for consumers.
