New tariff to boost industrial sector

Ranchi: The new power tariff announced by the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC) on Saturday has come as a major relief for commercial and industrial consumers who would now pay less for the amount of electricity consumed.
However, domestic consumers would bear the burnt as they would be deprived of the cross-subsidy which they used to get earlier.The new tariff would be applicable from January 1.
Addressing a press conference here, JSERC chairman SKF Kujur said urban consumers will now have to pay Rs 1.35 if they consume less than 200 units and Rs 1.70 if they consume more than 200 units. Earlier, the rate was divided in three slabs. While those who consumed less than 200 units paid Rs 1.23 a unit, those who consumed 200 to 400 units paid Rs 1.41 per unit. Even those who consumed more than 400 units paid Rs 1.60 a unit. However, the new policy has reduced the tariff for commercial and industrial consumers. While commercial tariff has been reduced by 7 per cent, low tension (LT) industrial tariff and high tension (HT) industrial tariff has been slashed by 4 and 6 per cent respectively. Railway is also to benefit with a reduction of 6 per cent in its tariff. “It was seen that industrial consumers were paying on an average Rs 5.23 per unit of electricity, which is too high. We decided to reduce the cross-subsidy, which the domestic consumers get as a result of it and instead increased the rates for domestic consumers,� Kujur said.
“Now they would pay something around Rs 3.50,� he added. The new policy will also provide much-needed boost to the industrial sector besides improving collection. As incentives and new schemes have been introduced, consumers are bound to benefit. For the first time system of optional metered tariff have been introduced. JSERC claims that a consumer using optional meter would pay less than he pays in an unmetered scheme. So they would be motivated to use meters, Kujur said.
The policy has clubbed many consumers, especially in commercial and industrial segment. For instance, LT1 and LT2 industries would now pay the same amount.Similarly, in HT segment HTS1, HTS2 and ETHS would pay the same amount. Moreover, HTS 2 and ETHS would also get rebates of 5 and 7.5 percent if they consume more than 33KV and 132 KV respectively.
The new policy has also introduced features such as “Kutir Jyoti� for poor consumers who would get connection at Rs 27 per connection. Minimum charges have also been abolished except in HT industries.The commission has framed new tariffs at the instance of JSEB who approached the former for determining Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) and rationalisation of tariff. The commission in almost all the cases fixed lower tariff than recommended by the JSEB and also issued some recommendations to the board.