Calcutta, Oct. 1: Your electricity bill will go up from this month, though by less than 2 per cent.

The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission today announced its tariff order for 2008-09. “The maximum tariff hike for all major classes of low-tension category consumers (which includes domestic, commercial and small industrial units) has been kept within 2 per cent,” a commission official said. “The tariff has been reduced for small consumers in certain cases.”

Charges have been brought down for those consuming up to 25 units a month.

The energy bills for other households will go up because the regulator introduced a fixed charge on the basis of the connection load or kilo-volt-ampere (KVA).

The charge, at the rate of Rs 5 per KVA per month, has been levied for the first time on domestic consumers. So far, this charge was applicable to commercial and industrial consumers.

“From now on, fixed charge has become mandatory for all classes of consumers,” the commission official said.

What this new charge means is that if you are using air-conditioners and such other electrical gadgets that require a high KVA load, you will have to pay more.

“For example, if you instal an air-conditioner, it will add a 1.5KVA load to your connection. You will not only have to pay extra towards the energy charges to run the air-conditioner, but also for the additional KVA,” explained Utpal Bhattacharya, executive director (corporate services), CESC.

According to him, an average family of five living in a three bed-room flat won’t require more than a 2KVA line if it is not using electrical equipment such as air-conditioners and micro-ovens.

Minus the fixed charge, power tariffs under the new order would have been lower than what they are now.

The average increase in CESC’s tariff under the new order is only 5 paisa (the average tariff in 2008-09 has been increased to Rs 3.91 a unit from Rs 3.86). The average hike is the same in case of the state power board, from Rs 3.30 a unit to Rs 3.35.

The order will be effective from April 2008. The charges for April to September will be reflected in future bills.

This hike in average tariff will increase CESC’s revenue (from distribution) by Rs 35 crore to Rs 2,804.75 crore in 2008-09. The state-run utility’s revenue will go up to Rs 5,580.03 crore.