For households that have either exhausted the quota of 12 subsidised cylinders in a financial year by this time or opted out of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy, the refills turned dearer by ₹148.50 on Wednesday.
Other households will also feel the heat of an increase in the price of 14.2 kg LPG cylinders by the national oil marketing companies, but to a much lesser extent. This follows the government enhancing the subsidy payout to the domestic consumers.
The accompanying increase in the GST, estimated to be ₹8 on each subsidised domestic cylinder, is something consumers have to bear, Telangana LPG Distributors Association general secretary Jagan Mohan Reddy said. Post the increase, an Indane cylinder in Hyderabad costs ₹917.50 as against ₹769 each until Tuesday.
As per the existing system, households who have not given up LPG subsidy will get 12 cylinders in a financial year and the subsidy amount gets credited to their bank account. As per an estimate, the subsidy amount will increase to nearly ₹346 per cylinder as against ₹204.53.
From the 13th refill onwards, and for those who opted out of the subsidy, only non-subsidised domestic cylinder is supplied. In other words, they have to pay almost ₹150 more per refill.
According to Mr. Reddy, in many of the urban households, especially with more than four members, LPG consumption is more. On day one of the increase, there were no reports of consumers turning away delivery boys when they went to supply, sources in the trade said.