Discoms to bill mushroom growers as industrial consumers

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

Mushroom farmers will have to pay more for electricity as the power distribution companies — UHBVN, DHBVN — will now bill them as industrial consumers instead of agricultural, domestic or non-domestic users.

According to discoms, the decision has been prompted by the state government failure to pay additional subsidy.

“The Agriculture Department received representations from mushroom farmers demanding they be charged as agriculture consumers only. The matter was taken up with the state government, which has so far not agreed to pay additional subsidy to the discoms to compensate for the revenue loss,” sources said quoting the sales circular issued recently.

An industrial consumer pays Rs 6.35 or Rs 6.65 per unit depending on load.

In contrast, an agricultural consumer pays 8 to 10 paisa per unit, while the electricity tariff for domestic and non-domestic consumers starts from Rs 2.70 and Rs 6.35 per unit, respectively.

Hitherto, farmers were being billed depending on the site where they cultivated mushrooms in accordance with the sales circular issued in January 2001.

Sources said since mushroom farming could be practiced in a room or two, the discoms were charging domestic or non-domestic tariff from farmers depending on the nature of the premises. The sales circular issued in January 2001 stated that agriculture tariff would be applicable in cases where mushroom cultivation was being done in the fields in rural areas. However, a fresh circular issued recently clarified that mushroom farming would be covered under industrial category and consumers billed accordingly.

Sources said the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Authority (HERC) in a case, wherein, the petitioner had pleaded for admissibility of agricultural tariff, had decided in its interim order that the concurrence of state government for additional subsidy be obtained for billing mushroom consumers as agricultural consumers.