In a major relief to city residents, the UT electricity department has proposed not to hike power tariff for the financial year of 2021-22.
The department in its power tariff petition submitted before Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) stated as the department has been making profit, it has decided not to propose any hike. The department made the suggestion in an annual revenue requirement (ARR) and tariff petition for 2021-22 submitted to the power regulatory body.
This will be the third consecutive financial year, when there will be no power tariff hike in Chandigarh. The last increase in the domestic and commercial electricity tariff was in 2018-2019.
In the domestic category, the approved rate is Rs 2.75 in the slab of 0-150 units, Rs 4.80 in the slab of 151-400 unit. In the slab of above 400 units, the rate is Rs 5.20 per unit in the current fiscal.
In the commercial consumer category, the power rate is Rs 5 in the slab between 0-150 units, in slab of 151-400, the rate is Rs 5.30 per unit. In above 400 slab, it is Rs 5.60 per unit.
Last time, there was a hike in power tariff for 2018-19 financial year. At that time, the JERC had marginally increased rates in domestic and commercial categories and reduced them for the industrial category. In the domestic category, rates had been increased from Rs 2.55 to Rs 2.75 in the slab of 0-150 units, while there had been no change in the rate of Rs 4.80 in the slab of 151-400 units. In the slab of above 400 units, the rate had gone up from Rs 5 to Rs 5.20 per unit.
Along similar lines, a small increase in the commercial consumer category had been made in 2018-19. In the commercial category, there was no change in the rate of Rs 5 in the 0-150 slab, while in the slab of 151-400, the rate was increased from Rs 5.20 to Rs 5.30 per unit. In above 400 slab, the rate was increased from Rs 5.45 to Rs 5.60 per unit.
The JERC, in its last year order, directed the UT electricity department to implement monthly billing system for all the categories except agriculture pumping system in the UT. The JERC had also directed the department to expedite the work on execution of the energy audit. The commission had also asked the department to submit a detailed report of voltage-wise transmission and distribution (T&D) losses along with the next tariff petition
