No power tariff hike in Haryana
Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission has decided to not increase the power tariff for any category of consumers in the state in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes as a relief to nearly 68 lakh power consumers in the state. Also, for agro-industries, the HERC has created a new tariff category of such industries up to 20 kwh load.
Such units will be charged a concessional tariff of Rs. 4.75 per kwh. Earlier they were being charged a tariff of Rs. 7.05 per kwh. The total benefit that will accrue during 2020-21 is estimated to be Rs. 42.5 crore, as per the HERC tariff order issued by its chairman D S Dhesi and members Pravindra Singh Chauhan and Naresh Sardana, which is effective from June 1.
In its order on aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) of the power discoms, HERC provided relief to the agro industry with over Rs 2 per unit reduction in power tariff.
This was a long-pending demand of this category of industries and will give a big boost to the diversification of the rural economy, as per the HERC order.
Domestic consumers having consumption up to 150 units per month will continue to enjoy concessional tariff with the lowest tariff being Rs 2 per unit for consumers for power consumption up to 50 units.
However, the power bills of those domestic consumers with a consumption of up to 800 units per month has been reduced by 42 paise per unit, which will mean a reduction of nearly 10 per cent in their power bills, says the order.
As per the order, the subsidy of the state government and reduction in applicable tariff from Rs 4.50 to Rs 2.50 per unit for 0-150 units category will have a telescopic impact on monthly consumption up to 800 units.
The power tariff for the industrial sector ranges from Rs 6.35 to Rs 6.95 per unit depending on category and consumption while for running their tubewells the agriculture sector consumers will continue to pay 10 paise per unit.
