E-Paper
Power to cost 1% more in Chandigarh, first since privatisation
New rates to remain in effect from November 1 till March 31, 2026; around 2% hike to follow annually over next five years
In the first such hike since the privatisation of the Chandigarh electricity department in February this year, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has approved a marginal power tariff increase of around 1% for the remaining period of financial year 2025-26.
The revised tariff will be in effect from November 1 to March 31, 2026, and will be followed by an annual hike of about 2% over the next five years.
The JERC, which regulates power tariffs for both government and private sector operators in Chandigarh, finalised revised tariff structure for various domestic and commercial categories following a petition by the Chandigarh Power Distribution Limited (CPDL) in July.
Along with the marginal hike in tariffs, CPDL has also revised the domestic slab structure from three to five categories — each comprising 100 units — a move expected to ease the burden on low-consumption households that earlier paid a higher rate under the wider 151–400-unit slab.
As part of privatisation, the entire power distribution and retail supply business of the electricity department was transferred to CPDL, fully owned by Kolkata-based Eminent Electricity Distribution Limited (EEDL).
In its petition, CPDL had cited a projected revenue gap of ₹81 crore. It estimated a total requirement of ₹1,157 crore to meet its operational and supply costs for FY 2025-26. However, under the existing tariff structure, expected revenue from retail sales stood at ₹1,075 crore — leaving a shortfall of ₹81 crore.
To bridge this gap, CPDL had sought an average tariff increase of 7.57% for 2025-26.
It had also proposed to increase the fixed charge to ₹32.64 for domestic consumers and ₹45.81 for non-domestic users.
However, JERC approved a far smaller hike while setting stringent loss reduction and performance improvement targets for the utility to enhance operational efficiency and service quality within limited tariff margins.
The fixed charges for domestic consumers, ₹30 a month, along with the tariff for single-phase supply, ₹2.75 per unit, will also remain unchanged.
SK Nayar, president of Indian Citizen Forum, Chandigarh, said, in the order, JERC through its order had also abolished small power category: “Now only, LT industrial supply, for a load up to 85 kWh (kilowatt-hour), has been created, with three monthly billing slabs — 1 to 500, 501 to 1000 and above 1000 units.”
According to CPDL data, Chandigarh currently has 2,34,269 electricity consumers, including 2,01,435 domestic (low tension, LT), 26,559 commercial (LT), 493 commercial (high tension, HT), 95 large industries, 1,488 medium industries, 1,538 small industries, 121 agricultural and 1,551 public lighting connections.
At a meeting with the Joint Coordination Committee of the Resident Welfare Association (RWAs) of Ward Number 23 in Sector 43 in July, MP Manish Tewari had opposed any hike in power tariffs, stating that since the handover, the private company had not undertaken any significant infrastructure upgrades or expansions.
Last year, the JERC had approved a 9.4% increase in the power tariff for Chandigarh, applicable from August 1, 2024. The fixed charge for domestic category consumers was also hiked from ₹30 a month against the previous ₹15 a month.
Earlier in 2022-23, the commission had approved an increase of 25 paise in retail tariff up to 150 kWh per month. Before that, the last increase in the domestic and commercial electricity tariff was implemented in 2018-2019.
