Officials clarified that Chandigarh’s tariffs for home and commercialized consumers would stay little than those successful Punjab and Haryana. (Representative Image)
Three months aft a powerfulness tariff hike successful the Union Territory (UT), Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria connected Thursday directed officials to see rationalising aboriginal powerfulness tariffs. In a gathering chaired by Kataria, instructions were issued to the Engineering Department to research adjustments, including tariff simplification and alleviation for low-income consumers.
“The Administrator has directed the Engineering Department to behaviour an vigor audit to place gaps successful reducing transmission and organisation losses and instrumentality remedial measures truthful that vigor savings tin payment consumers,” the medication stated. The section was besides instructed to see alleviation for low-income consumers successful the tariff petition for the upcoming fiscal twelvemonth 2025-26, which volition beryllium submitted to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for approval.
Officials clarified that Chandigarh’s tariffs for home and commercialized consumers would stay little than those successful Punjab and Haryana.
In August, the JERC approved a 9.4% tariff hike for the fiscal twelvemonth 2024-25 aft reviewing a petition filed by the UT Power Department, which initially projected a 19.44% increase. The JERC’s determination marks the archetypal tariff emergence since 2018-19; tariffs had either been reduced oregon held dependable successful the years following, including a 9.58% simplification for 2021-22 and a 1% chopped for 2022-23. The existent tariff bid besides spares consumers utilizing up to 150 units from immoderate increase.
The tariff hike was prompted by accrued costs for procuring powerfulness from cardinal generating projects, arsenic Chandigarh lacks its ain powerfulness procreation and depends connected powerfulness allocations from sources similar BBMB, NTPC, and NHPC to conscionable demand, which peaked this twelvemonth astatine 449 MW.
In a examination of approved tariffs, Punjab’s State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) rates for home users scope from Rs. 4.88 per portion for the 0-100 portion slab to Rs. 7.75 for 301 units and above. Haryana’s SERC rates are Rs. 2.00 per portion for the 0-50 portion slab and Rs. 5.97 per portion for usage supra 150 units. Commercial tariffs successful some states besides stay higher than those successful Chandigarh, wherever rates for businesses are presently regulated to supply competitory pricing.