Be ready to pay more for electricity as the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC), on Tuesday, approved an average hike of 4.68% in the power tariff for consumers in the city.

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This will increase financial burden of Rs170 crore on Amdavadis, and around Rs750 crore on citizens in other parts of the state.

The order was in the wake of Torrent Power Limited’s petition seeking tariff revision for the year 2011-12 under the Multi-Year Tariff framework. GERC said in a statement that it had decided to allow an average tariff hike of 22 paise per unit, i.e. 4.68% of the existing tariff, as against 90 paise per unit sought by Torrent.

For residential consumers, the tariff has been hiked by 20 paise per unit for monthly consumption up to 250 units. However, for monthly consumption of 251 units onwards, the tariff has been hiked by 5 paise per unit.

BPL consumers and metered agricultural consumers have been exempted from the hike, which came into effect from September 1. According to estimates, the tariff revision will lead to additional financial burden of Rs170 crore on power consumers in Ahmedabad.   

The regulator has also hiked fixed charges for residential consumers. For single-phase consumers, monthly fixed charges have been revised from Rs5 per month to Rs10 per month, while for three-phase consumers, the revision is from Rs15 per month to Rs30. For non-residential (commercial) consumers, the tariff has been revised by 15 paise per unit. The fixed charge up to 5 BHP installations has been revised from Rs20 per BHP per month to Rs35 per kW per months. For installations above 5 BHP, the fixed charge is increased from Rs25 per BHP per month to Rs45 per kW per months.

Similarly, for industrial consumers, the tariff has been revised by 25 paise per unit. GERC said in the statement that the moderate tariff hike was inevitable to maintain the balance between interest of consumers and distribution companies.

The regulator also approved the change in tariff rates for the four state-owned distribution companies, viz. UGVCL, DGVCL, MGVCL and PGVCL. The four companies had sought a uniform tariff hike of 25 paise per unit for all consumers except BPL and agricultural consumers. The commission approved average hike of 13 paise per unit, which will add burden of around Rs700 crore on citizens.

For residential consumers, tariff has been revised by 15 paise for monthly consumption up to 250 units. For 251 units and onwards, the tariff has been hiked by 5 paise per unit. The tariff for non-residential consumers has been hiked by 20 paise per unit.

For Surat, GERC has approved an average hike of 12 paise per unit as against 48 paise sought by Torrent Power. For residential consumers, tariff has been revised by 20 paise per unit for monthly consumption of up to 250 units, and 5 paise per unit after that. The fixed charges and other charges for residential, non-residential and industrial consumers has also been hiked. Citizens of Surat will have to pay around Rs50 crore more as a result of the hike.