Although the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) ruled out any increase in the electricity tariff on Monday, the electricity bills of domestic consumers consuming up to 800 units per month are set to fall by about 10%.
However, in its Order on the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) for Power Discomputes for the year 2020-2021, HERC granted relief to the agro-industry affecting almost Rs 2 per unit reduction in power tariffs.
The order, issued by Deepinder Singh Dhesi, Chairman, and Pravindra Singh Chauhan and Naresh Sardana, Members, will be effective from 1 June 2020 on behalf of over 67.98 state power consumers.
“The subsidy of the state government and reduction in the applicable tariff from Rs 4.50 to 2.50 per unit by HERC for 0-150 units category will have a telescopic impact on consumers consuming up to 800 units,” the order said.
Sources said that with a 42 per unit reduction in tariffs in this category (0-150 units), an overall 10 per cent reduction in electricity is expected for domestic consumers.
The lowest tariff for domestic consumers would now be Rs 2 per unit for consumers consuming up to 50 units. The tariff for 51-150 units shall be Rs 2.50 per unit, while the power tariff for 151-250 units shall be Rs 5.25. It will be Rs 6 30 per unit for 251-500 units. The highest tariff for domestic consumers will be Rs 7.10 per unit for consumers in the range 501-800. Power consumers consuming more than 800 units of electricity will also be paid Rs 7.10 per unit per order.
Power tariffs for the industrial sector ranged from Rs 6.35 to Rs 6.95 per unit, depending on consumption and category.
In order to improve the agro-industry, a special category has been developed under which power consumption of up to 20 KW will be paid at the rate of Rs 4.75 as against the current tariff of Rs 7.05 per unit.
Consumers in the agriculture sector will have to pay 10 countries per unit for running their pipes.
The order asked discoms to install 10 lakh smart meters within six months and also to provide pre-paid connections to consumers with smart meters.
It also asked the discoms to make Panchkula or any other city with a potential for tourism as a solar-powered city.
However, the tariff referred to above will not include municipal charges, fixed charges and the FSA.
Meanwhile, the ARR of the discoms is pegged at Rs 27,835 crore in 2020-2021 as against Rs 28,805 crore in 2019-2020.
