Electricity rates hiked in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24

Consumers in Punjab will have to pay Rs 0.36 per unit extra as power tariff from January 1. Domestic consumers will have to pay an additional electricity duty of Rs 0.06 per unit, taking the hike to Rs 0.36 per kWh. Industrial consumers , with a hike of Rs 0.29 per kVAh, will effectively end up paying Rs 0.35 per kVAh as additional tariff, along with electricity duty. This means, domestic consumer will pay Rs 8.37 per unit as tariff and industrial consumer Rs 7.05 - Rs 7.85 per unit.

The hike was announced by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) this evening. A petition for allowing higher Annual Revenue Requirement ( ARR) was moved by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited earlier this year. The PSERC had observed that the additional revenue requirement of Rs 1,320 crore on account of coal washing charges to be paid to Rajpura Thermal Power Plant and Talwandi Sabo Power Project would have to be recovered from consumers over a period of 12 months, beginning January 2020. The amount is to be recovered as surcharge.The hike would see the subsidy bill of the state government going up by Rs 300 crore.

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