People of the State will have to pay more for power consumption from April 4.

Bhubaneswar: People of the State will have to pay more for power consumption from April 4. The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Saturday approved a power tariff hike by 30 paise per unit, overall an increase of 5.6 per cent (pc), for all categories except BPL and irrigation consumers.

The revised tariff, which has been approved taking into account the commercial viability and operational efficiency of the generation, transmission, supply and distribution utilities of the State, will come into effect from April 4.

The tariff has been hiked from Rs 2.70 to Rs 3 per unit for one to 50 units, from Rs 4.50 to Rs 4.80 per unit for 51 to 200 units, from Rs 5.50 to Rs 5.80 per unit for 201 to 400 units and Rs 5.90 to Rs 6.20 per unit for more than 400 units. Announcing the tariff hike, an OERC release said there is no change in the monthly minimum fixed charge, demand charge and meter rent. Besides, the kVAh based billing has been introduced for all high tension (HT) and extra-high tension (EHT) consumers. In kVAh billing, fixed/ demand charges are levied on apparent power (kVA) and energy charges are levied on apparent energy (kVAh).

Power factor penalty incentive and reliability surcharge have been abolished. However, two pc rebate over and above normal rebate has been allowed on the bill to the low tension (LT) domestic and single phase general purpose category of consumers who pay through digital means. This rebate will be applicable for the current month bill if paid in full. Besides, two pc rebate will be allowed to all pre-paid consumers on pre-paid amount.

The OERC release said charging of electric vehicles will be treated as general purpose (GP) category. This category relates to the supply of power to premises, which are used for office, business, general purpose or other purposes not covered under any other category where the non-domestic load exceeds 20 pc of the total connected load. Gridco will purchase 28,791.96 million units power during 2021-22 and sell 27,870 million units to distribution companies. Besides, there will be emergency power supply of 60 million units. The average power purchase cost will be 278.06 paise per unit for 2021-22.

Power tariff hiked by 30p per unit
The Commission has not allowed the fixed cost of Rs 183 crore towards central sector power. After revision of bulk supply price (BSP), supply revenue of Rs 12.1 crore has been allowed in Gridco’s annual revenue requirement (ARR) against a negative gap of Rs 250.6 crore in 2020-21 financial year.

Besides, the Commission has approved distribution loss of 21.24 pc against the proposed distribution loss of 22.42 pc by distribution companies. It has also approved aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of 20.03 pc instead of 25.78 pc proposed by the distribution companies.

Tariff hike
1-50 units Rs 2.70 to Rs 3
51-200 units Rs 4.50 to Rs 4.80
201-400 units Rs 5.50 to Rs 5.80
Over 400 units Rs 5.90 to Rs 6.20