Power bills of all consumers in the State will go up from Monday. The domestic segment, comprising about 85 lakh consumers, will take a major hit with the energy bills shooting up by 11.4% from the existing rates.
As per the tariff approved by the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission, the power charge for domestic consumers per unit will go up from 25 paise to 40 paise per unit.
The fixed charge too will increase from ₹20 to ₹40, a 100% hike.
The average tariff hike for all sectors together has been pegged at 6.8%. The hike for small scale industries (low tension) is 5.7% and for high tension consumers it is 6.1%. For commercial establishments it has been restricted to 3.3%.
The fixed charge of small scale industries has been revised up to ₹20 and their power tariff from 15 paise to 20 paise.
The fixed charge of commercial establishments and shops has been revised up to ₹20, but their tariff will remain the same.
For high tension industries, the demand charge (similar to fixed charge) will go up by ₹40 and cost per unit by 30 paise.
Though the hike in the domestic sector has been pegged at 11.4%, on adding up the hike in fixed charge, the bimonthly bill of consumers in this bracket may go up in the range of ₹36 to ₹508.
Families in the BPL category who use up to 40 units a month have been exempted from the hike. The current rate of ₹1.50 per unit will continue.
The BPL families having cancer patients or permanently disabled persons due to polio or accidents can consume up to 100 units a month at ₹1.50 per unit.
The victims of endosulfan in Kasaragod need pay only ₹1.50 per unit for a monthly consumption up to 150 units.
The Kerala State Electricity Board in its petition on October 30, 2018 had proposed to revise the tariff for 2018-19 to mobilise an additional revenue of ₹1,100 crore. It had also proposed a revision for 2020-21 to mobilise an additional revenue of ₹ 700 crore.
But the commission decided to enhance the tariff in 2019-20 for mobilising ₹902 crore per year. This is expected to bridge a substantial portion of the revenue gap.