Power tariff in Assam will fall by two per cent from next month with the regulatory body announcing a cut in energy charges.
“The energy charges have been reduced by 20-30 paise per unit. The Commission has marginally increased the fixed/demand charges for most categories. This has resulted in an overall decrease of 2 per cent (14 paise/unit) as compared to the existing tariff,” Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) said in a statement.
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AERC said the cut in energy charges for Jeevan Dhara segment will be 10 paise, while it will be cut 50 paise for public lighting for every unit consumed.
However, fixed charges were not raised for 2-3 categories as the rates were already higher than that of other segments.
AERC said that after final adjustment for 2016-17 and considering the standalone revenue requirement for 2018-19, the cumulative revenue surplus worked out to Rs 109.56 crore, the benefit of which has been passed on to the consumer by revising the tariff with effect from April 1, 2018.
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Explaining the reason to hike the fixed charges, the regulator said, “On analysis, it was seen that around 6 per cent of the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) of Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) comprises fixed costs. However, only 12 per cent of the ARR is recovered through fixed/demand Charges.
“With the revision in fixed/demand charges, APDCL will be able to recover only around 14 per cent of the ARR through the fixed/demand charges.”
For domestic purposes below 5 KW category, energy charges have been slashed to Rs 5.45 per unit from Rs 5.65 for 120 units, while it will be Rs 6.70 as against Rs 6.90 earlier for 121 to 240 units every month.
For the balance above 240 units, it is reduced to Rs 7.70 from Rs 7.90, AERC said.
For the homes having 5 KW to 25 KW load, the rate has decreased to Rs 7.30 from Rs 7.50 for every unit consumed.
However, fixed charges for all the above four categories have been hiked to Rs 40 per KW from Rs 30 now, AERC said.
Likewise, the energy rates for commercial segment have also been reduced, while the fixed charges were increased.
The regulatory body informed that the average cost of supply (ACOS) for 2018-19 works out to Rs 7.35 per KWH as against APDCL’s proposal of Rs 7.82 per KWH and existing effective ACOS of Rs 7.49 per KWH.
“The Commission has approved the cumulative revenue requirement of Rs 5,721 crore for APDCL for 2018-19 as against Rs 6,321 crore proposed by APDCL,” AERC said.
Trying to rationalise power usage hours, AERC announced that night off-peak rebate has been increased from Rs 0.50 per KWH to Rs 1.50 per KWH in order to incentivise HT industrial consumer categories to shift their consumption more to night off-peak hours.