New rules: Power consumers to pay more during ‘peak hours’

Patna: Domestic, commercial and industrial electricity consumers in the state will have to pay higher tariffs during peak hours, as the new Time of Day (ToD) pricing mechanism comes into effect from April 1.Under the new system, the time of power consumption has been divided into three slots. The price of electricity consumed during the peak hours would be higher than the normal price rate, and that for the off-peak hours would be less than the normal rate.According to the TOD system, the first slot is from 9am to 5pm, falling under the off-peak hours, when the price of electricity used would be 80% of the normal, or 20% less than the normal rate, Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) chairman Amir Subhani told the TOI.The second slot is from 5pm to 11pm, the peak hours, when the price of electricity charged would be 110% of the normal or 10% more than the normal for domestic power consumers, and the price would be 120% for commercial and industrial consumers or 20% more than their normal rate. During the third slot—that is, from 11pm to 9am—the price charged for electricity used would be 110% of the normal or 10% more than the normal rate.“The new price mechanism called the TOD system has been introduced for two main reasons. First, the state govt has to purchase electricity from the market at a very high rate, which warrants the management of power consumption on the part of the electricity consumers,” Subhani said.“Also the Centre’s rules on power consumption also call for effective demand management by all categories of consumers. Moreover, several states have increasingly adopted the ToD system to manage electricity usage,” he said.The state has over 2.21 crore power consumers. Of them, 1.88 crore are domestic power consumers. Initially, the TOD system would impact about 87 lakh consumers. The new system would apply on all the types of consumers, including those who have Smart Prepaid Meters.