Power tariff in Himachal Pradesh will go up by 13 per cent but domestic and agricultural consumers will have to pay more as the government has committed to raising the power subsidy from Rs 165 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 280 crore in 2012-13.
The State Electricity Regulatory Commission in its Electricity Retail Supply Tariff Order for 2012-13, issued today, said 17.40 lakh domestic consumers would not have to bear additional burden as the state government has committed to fully subsidise the proposed hike in tariff. The commission has increased the tariff up to 40 units for below poverty line (BPL) consumers from Rs 2.10 per unit to Rs 2.50 per unit but the subsidised tariff would remain at 70 paise per unit. The tariff for other categories for first 40 units has been raised from Rs 2.35 per unit to Rs 2.85 per unit but consumers would pay Rs 1 per unit as before. Further, the tariff for up to 125 units has been raised from Rs 2.50 per unit to Rs 3 per unit but the consumers will continue to pay Rs 1.10 per unit. Consumers in the 16-250 units slab will also continue to pay Rs 2.20 per unit even though the tariff fixed by commission has been increased from, Rs 3.45 per unit to Rs 3.90 per unit.
The subsidy for consumption above 250 units has also been raised and the subsidised tariff would remain at Rs 3.25 per unit. Similarly, private agriculture irrigation pumping up to 20 kw and LT above 20 KW would not pay anything extra. The commercial tariff for load upto 20 KW remains unchanged but tariff for load between 21 and 100 KW is up from Rs 3.95 to Rs 4.20 per unit while for load above 100 KW, the tariff would be Rs 4.10 per unit instead of Rs 3.75 per unit at present. The tariff for government water and irrigation pumping has been raised by 50 per unit in all slabs while charges for street light have been increased from Rs 4 to Rs 4.60 per unit. The tariff for bulk supply and industry has been hiked by 40-50 paise per unit for various categories as per power load and nature of the unit.
There will be no increase in tariff for all the private agriculture irrigation consumers as government is fully subsidising the tariff increase. This will benefit about 15,000 consumers. The consumer service charges and meter rent for all categories of consumers and also the peak hours consumption charges would remain unchanged. The night hour confessional charges period has been extended to 10 PM to 6 AM against midnight to 6 AM at present. The commission has approved the revenue requirement of Rs 4,156 crores for 2012-13 and fully allowed the deficit of Rs 733 crores. Of this, Rs 412 crores would be recovered by tariff increase of about 13 per cent this year.
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