CHANDIGARH: The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has reduced power tariff by 9.58% and ordered to stop recovery of fuel and power purchase cost adjustment (FPPCA) from April 1, in a major relief for city residents.
The FPPCA charges are imposed quarterly. They are in addition to the tariff imposed in the bill. The UT, however, was directed to submit quarterly FPPCA calculation for review.
The decision was taken on the power tariff petition that the electricity department had submitted while proposing no hike in power tariff for the 2021-22 financial year. As the department has been making profit, it has decided not to propose any hike, a suggestion made in the annual revenue requirement (ARR) and tariff petition for 2021-22 submitted to the power regulatory body.
The JERC order said, “The petitioner had a standalone revenue surplus in each year from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The projected standalone surplus for 2021-22 and cumulative revenue surplus till 2021-22 at existing tariff is expected to be 98.21 crore and Rs 345.61 crore even after discontinuing the regulatory surcharge from May 2019 and FPPCA from June 2020. The commission approves a reduction in the retail tariff for existing categories which works out to be 9.58%”. “Even after a reduction in average tariff, the projected standalone revenue surplus at the end of 2021-22 is expected to be Rs 8.12 crore.” the order added.
The last increase in the domestic and commercial electricity tariff was in 2018-2019. The JERC had then marginally increased rates in domestic and commercial categories and reduced them for industrial category. In the domestic category, rates had been increased from Rs 2.55 to Rs 2.75 in the slab of 0-150 units, while there had been no change in the rate of Rs 4.80 in the slab of 151-400 units. In the slab of above 400 units, the rate had gone up from Rs 5 to Rs 5.20 per unit.
Along similar lines, a small increase in the commercial consumer category had been made in 2018-19. In the commercial category, there was no change in the rate of Rs 5 in the 0-150 slab, while in the slab of 151-400, the rate was increased from Rs 5.20 to Rs 5.30 per unit. In above 400 slab, the rate was increased from Rs 5.45 to Rs 5.60 per unit.