Small power tariff hike for industry, commercial users

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission, which revised the tariff for electricity supply companies (escoms), has continued the incentives offered last year to industrial consumers of high tension as well as the penal charges for those drawing power in the peak hours.

Last year, the commission had offered Re 1 incentive to high tension (nominal voltage greater than 650 V) consumers for every unit consumed during the morning peak hour between 10 am and 6 pm. The Rs 2/unit incentive for power consumption during the night non-peak hours (10 pm to 6 am) will also continue.

The tariff for both low tension (LT) and high tension (HT) consumers have been revised with a marginal increase in rates. The LT industries will pay 15 to 20 paise more while the tariff for HT industries has seen a flat 20 paise hike.

The hike is more for commercial consumers with the tariff going up by 25 paise/unit. The new tariff in urban local body areas under all escoms will be Rs 8/unit instead of Rs 7.75/unit for the first 50 units in a month. Consuming beyond 50 units will attract a tariff of Rs 9/unit.

However, the HT commercial users’ bill will be costlier by 20 paise per unit. The rate of a unit has been fixed at Rs 8.65, which will increase to Rs 8.75 exceeding the first two lakh units of monthly consumption.

The concession provided for sewage and effluent treatment plants, which has been seen as an encouraging push for the apartments to process wastewater produced in their unit. Solid waste processing plants will continue to have beneficial industrial category tariff.