By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 18 Mar: Power tariff in Uttarakhand is likely to see a sharp hike of up to 12 percent in some categories of consumers with effect from 1 April. According to the sources, the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has given its nod to the hike. The commission is likely to announce the hike and the details of the new tariff on 23 March in a media interaction. This increase will affect 27.50 lakh consumers of the state. This year, UPCL had proposed 16.96 per cent increase in electricity rates, UJVNL by about 2.43 per cent, and PTCUL by 9.27 per cent before the Regulatory Commission. The UERC had held several public hearings across the state on all these proposals and listened to the views of the stakeholders and the three energy corporations. Of course, in most hearings, the consumers had strongly opposed a sharp hike in the power tariff as had been proposed by the UPCL, UJVNL and PTCUL. Now the commission has brainstormed the proposals of all by holding a meeting of the board. According to sources, the regulatory commission has decided to increase UPCL’s tariff by around 12 per cent though, there is no official confirmation regarding the extent of the hike.
The consumers, industry representatives and farmers who came to the public hearing had expressed strong opposition to the fixed charge. According to sources, the regulatory commission can also take a decision on the fix charge. It may be noted that no fixed charge was collected in the state between 2003 and 2008. After this, the Commission again introduced the fixed charge. The commission can take a decision on this also. At present the fixed charge ranges from Rs 18 to Rs 430 per kWh.
