Jharkhand increases power tariff by 6.34 pc

    Ranchi, Apr 30 (PTI) The Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC), on Wednesday, raised the power tariff in the state by 6.34 per cent.
    Under the new rates, domestic consumers in rural areas will pay Rs 6.70 per unit, up from Rs 6.30, while urban consumers will pay Rs 6.85 per unit, up from Rs 6.65.
    The revised tariff will come into effect from May 1, the member law of JSERC, Mahendra Prasad, said.
    While the rural tariff increased by 40 paise, the urban tariff by 20 paise.
    "The domestic tariff does not include the consumers availing 200 units of free electricity per month," he said.
    Of around 46 lakh domestic consumers, around 40 lakh consumers are availing 200 units of free electricity per household per month in the state, another official said.
    Despite Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited's (JBVNL) proposal for a 40.02 per cent increase, the commission approved a 6.34 per cent hike after examination.
    For the commercial category, the tariff was increased by 10 paise for rural and 5 paise for urban consumers.
    Prasad said there has been no increase in the power tariff for agriculture consumers.
    A two per cent rebate has been proposed for the bills paid within five days of generation, while a three per cent rebate on energy charges proposed for consumers switching to prepaid smart meters.
    The commission has kept tariffs unchanged for rooftop solar PV projects at Rs 4.16 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for gross metering and Rs 3.80/kWh for net metering.
    The commission has approved the JBVNL's tariff for public electrical vehicle charging stations, which includes Rs 7.31 per unit for solar hours (9 am to 4 pm) and Rs 8.77 per unit for non-solar hours (remaining period).
    The commission also directed JBVNL to improve the billing software and work on power reliability."According to several industries, their production load increases due to non-reliability of power," JSERC member technical Atul Kumar said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)