The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has announced a revised power tariff for a period of three years from 2019 to 2022. In a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Preman Dinaraj, Chairman of the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission announced a 6.8% tariff hike for domestic consumers in the state. However, the revised rates will not be applicable to families that are under Below Poverty Line (BPL).
The revised electricity tariff will not extend to the cancer patients, polio patients, and people who are permanently disabled due to an accident.
It was announced that the new tariff will bring a substantial increase in fixed charges for domestic consumers on the basis of their monthly consumption. Dinaraj said that the commission has taken steps to avoid a shock for consumers.
What Is The Revised Tariff?
The maximum increase per unit is 40 paise and the minimum was 25 paise.
In the existing tariff, 50 units of power cost Rs 175, however with the revised tariff the consumer will be paying an excess of Rs 18, thus the consumer will shed Rs 193.
If a user consumes 100 units of electricity per month, then he/she will spend Rs 42 more. Currently, a user is spending Rs 345 per month for consuming 100 units of electricity which will shoot up to Rs 387 per month.
For a household consumption of 500 units per month, a consumer was paying Rs 3,430, but with the revised rates, he/she will end up paying Rs 250 more i.e Rs 3,680.
In the case of the small scale industries, there is a 5.7% rise in electricity bills. Currently, a consumer is spending Rs 100 per month for consuming 10 kilowatts of electricity, which under the revised tariff has now increased to Rs 120 per month. In the case of big industries, a 6.1% hike has been notified, whereas for the commercial establishment the new tariff has been raised by 3.3%.
KSEB Eyes Rs 902 Cr Extra
The commission said that the revised charges for domestic consumers were below the average cost of supply of power. S Venugopal, member (finance) said that the average cost of supply of power is Rs 6.10 per unit against an average revised price of Rs 4.62 per unit.
The tariff hike will generate additional revenue of Rs 902 crore. NS Pillai, the chairman and managing director said that tariff hike will merely provide any relief to KSEB over the financial constraints.
Following the hike in tariff, the opposition party accused the Kerala government of embezzling common man’s hard earned money. Kerala Pradesh Congress (KPCC) president, Mullapally Radhakrishnan in a statement said that the state and the central government are looting people who are yet to recover from the floods last year.
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