No Change In Power Tariff In Uttar Pradesh, Regulatory Commission Rejects Demands Of Hike
Lucknow, May 26 (TNA) Bit by price rise, the common man in Uttar Pradesh is for relief, specially for the 3.30 crore electricity consumers of the state. Electricity rates will not increase even in the current financial year. Rejecting all the arguments of the power companies, the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission gave its decision on Thursday to maintain the current rates of electricity unchanged.
The maximum rate of domestic electricity will remain at Rs 6.50 per unit. Electricity for the consumers of Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) has also been maintained at 10 percent cheaper as before. Now powermen will also be considered as domestic category consumers. Meters will now compulsorily be installed at the residences of power workers. The commission has now fixed green energy tariff at 44 paise per unit for other than domestic and agricultural consumers. This tariff will be voluntary for all.
The power corporation management will now publish the tariff order announced by the commission in the newspapers. The new rates will automatically come into effect seven days after publication. Since the rates have been kept unchanged, there will be no impact of the new rates on the electricity bills of the consumers.
In fact, an ARR (Annual Revenue Requirement) of Rs 92,564.89 crore was filed with the Regulatory Commission for the current financial year 2023-24 by the five power companies. To make up for the revenue gap, the companies had filed a proposal to increase the electricity rate from 18 to 23 percent in the Commission.
It is worth noting that considering the objections and suggestions of the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Consumers Council and others on the proposals of the companies, the Commission has given a big relief to the consumers by rejecting the proposal of increasing the ARR by Rs 6985.38 crore.
Due to the huge surplus, there is no scope for increase in electricity rates in the next financial years as well. Anyway, in view of the Lok Sabha elections next year, there is no possibility of electricity becoming expensive even in 2024.
Considering the subsidy of Rs 15,200 crore, the way the commission has determined the slabwise tariff, the companies will get a revenue of about Rs 85,105.59 crore. Although the commission had approved one thousand crore rupees earlier under the head of the Compensation Act, but due to hila-hawali in the implementation of the law, the commission has reduced it by 50 percent and approved only 500 crore rupees.
As per the tariff declared by the Commission, far from costing any consumer's electricity once again, the rates of electricity may remain the same or even reduce in the coming times. The reason is that the Commission, not accepting the arbitrary proposals of the electricity companies, has removed Rs 7988.81 crore more surplus from the consumers. It may be noted that the companies already have a consumer surplus of Rs 25,133 crore.
In such a situation, due to the surplus of about Rs 33,121 crore, the commission has kept the rates unchanged, not accepting the proposals of the companies to increase the power rates. Due to the huge surplus, there is no scope for increase in electricity rates in the next financial years as well. Anyway, in view of the Lok Sabha elections next year, there is no possibility of electricity becoming expensive even in 2024.