Common man may get a relief of 20-25 pc, industrial and commercial to remain unchanged
Punjab is all set to give relief to the common man, in the new power tariff order, to be announced on Friday.
Domestic consumers are expected to get a relief of 20-25 per cent in the tariff, while industrial and commercial users can expect the tariff to remain unchanged.
The new tariff order, to be announced by Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), will come into force from retrospective effect from April 1.
A formal final meeting of the commission, headed by its newly appointed chairman Vishwajit Khanna is to be held now, following which the tariff order will be announced.
The tariff for domestic consumers varies between Rs 4.49 and Rs 7.30 per unit, for industrial consumers between Rs 5.98 and Rs 6.41 per unit and for commercial consumers between Rs 6 and Rs 7.29 per unit. Last year, because of the pandemic, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) had reduced the tariff for domestic consumers consuming up to 300 units by 25 paisa to 50 paisa per unit and the tariff for small shopkeepers and industry had remained unchanged.
However, this year, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had initially proposed a hike in tariff of over eight per cent in its annual revenue requirement (ARR) sent to the power regulator in December 2020. But being an election year and the high power tariff is expected to be a major poll issue, the power utility apparently under pressure from the government later sent a revised ARR, asking the regulator to reduce the tariff.
