Up to 8% hike in domestic power tariff in Chandigarh from April 1

Mixed bag: Besides paying extra for power, consumers have to pay 5% regulatory surcharge on the total bill; However, tariff for industrial sector has been slashed by 65 paise per unit.

City residents will have to shell out more for power tariff from April 1 as Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) on Wednesday has increased the power tariff up to 8%. The average tariff increase works out to 20 paise per unit, while for the industrial supply tariff has been slashed by 65 paise per unit.

According to official records, there are 2.16 lakh electricity consumers, of which, 1.75 lakh fall in the domestic category. The department has regular billing of around 94% of consumers. (HT File)

Besides paying extra for power, consumer has to pay 5% regulatory surcharge on the total bill. For example, if the bills is Rs 1,000 consumer has to pay Rs 1,050.

UT superintending engineer MP Singh said there is a marginal increase, but there is revenue shortfall of Rs 190 crore. UT electricity department had filed its annual revenue requirement projections before the JERC, proposing the hike for 2018-19 starting April 1. This year UT has also sought to hike in power tariff in categories, including non-residential areas, medium and small industries.

Last year Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) had rejected a petition of Chandigarh electricity department which had proposed a 22% hike in power tariff for 2017-18 across various categories and slabs.

The UT electricity department generates bills for domestic customers bimonthly while bills of commercial consumers are generated every month. Domestic consumers are divided into four groups of 50,000 each and pay bills in six cycles a year.

According to official records, there are 2.16 lakh electricity consumers, of which, 1.75 lakh fall in the domestic category. The department has regular billing of around 94% of consumers.