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The Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC)  fixed power tariffs in the hill state with an average increase of 15 per cent, effective from October 1 this year for a period of six months. Making the announcement, UERC chairman V J Talwar said the average increase in power tariff for industries would be 16 per cent and for domestic and non-domestic only by 12 per cent against the proposed hike of 40 to 50 per cent by the government-run Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), the sole power distributor in the state.

Since the annual revenue requirement (ARR) and tariff proposals for the year 2009-10 were filed six months late, the Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on the UPCL. “Had the UPCL submitted its proposals in time, the increase in power tariffs would have been only by 7 per cent,” Talwar said.

Significantly, the Uttarakhand government had also issued policy direction, which is mandatory for UERC, to safeguard the interests of domestic consumers and farmers.

For domestic consumers (meter sanctioned up to 4 kw), the fixed charges would be Rs 20 per month and for sanctioned load above 4 kw the fixed charges would be Rs 40 per month. Energy charges in this category have been increased to Rs 2.20 from Rs 2.

Giving relief to farmers, the Commission has marginally increased tariffs of private tube wells from Rs .70 per kwh to Rs .80 per kwh and fixed non-metered charges in this category at Rs 130 per month from Rs 105 per month.

For the LT industrial category, the commission has increased fixed charges from Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kw. The peak hour surcharge has been increased to 50 per cent from existing level of 25 per cent. The off-peak rebate has been increased to 10 per cent from existing level of 5 per cent. Overall tariff increase has been in this category is 16 per cent. There is a higher tariff increase for more consumption during peak hours. The revised schedule for LT industries provides for energy charges of Rs 3.15 instead of Rs 2.75 per kwh. The fixed charge has been increased to Rs 80 from Rs 70 per kw per month.

For HT industries, there is an increase in demand charges from Rs 150 to Rs 160 per kva up to 1,000 kva and from Rs 200 to Rs 220 per kva above 1,000 kva. The Commission has continued with the practice of the load factor-based tariff. The overall average tariff increase on HT industrial category works out to be around 17 per cent.

Source - Business Standard