Chief Minister Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal said that the subsidy on power for domestic consumers will be enhanced by Rs. 20 crore to curtail the impact of additional burden following the revised tariff order issued by State Electricity Regulatory Commission. Consequently the burden of power subsidy to domestic consumers would go up from Rs. 146 crore to Rs. 166 crore. The domestic consumers would not have to pay the excess charges, he added. Chief Minister said that BPL consumers will continue to get electricity at the rate of 70 paise per unit and Non BPL Domestic consumers at the rate of Rs. one per unit upto 40 units. Agriculture tariff for LT category consumers will remain unchanged at the rate of 50 paise per unit.
Prof. Dhumal said that the enhanced subsidy will also ensure that the tariff increase for other domestic consumers was marginal. He said that tariff for other categories such as street lights, commercial supply and small industries will also not be increased. Chief Minister supports the nine percent increase in tariff by the Electricity Regulatory Commission as increase in the cost of power generation and also on account of implementation of revised pay scales to the employees.
Prof. Dhumal further said that Government has ensured that burden of this electricity tariff increase did not fall on the poor consumers of the State at the time of severe inflationary pressure in the country as it was committed for the welfare of the people of the State.
