Reduce power tariffs for prepaid users, govt to regulators

In order to persuade consumers to pay electricity bills in advance, the Union power ministry has asked state electricity regulators to come up with discounted tariffs for users subscribing to prepaid meters.

Prepaid meters have been envisaged as one of the ways to turn around distribution entities (discoms) by reducing their gap between the cost of power supply and revenue realised by ensuring timely payments. “In cases of prepayment, the carrying costs will come down, leading to reduced requirement of working capital for discoms,” a notice from the power ministry sent to all state regulators said.