Patna, June 1: Power consumers, already at the receiving end of the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB)’s failure to provide adequate supply, will have to pay more for their electricity bills.

The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (Berc) has approved an average increase of 19 per cent in power tariff rate across the board. The hike is lower than the board’s proposal to increase overall tariff rates by about 65 per cent.

This is the second time in less than six months that the commission has approved an increase in the power tariff.

The board had filed a petition on February 17 with Berc, the agency entrusted with the job of fixing electricity charges, with a proposal to increase the tariff between 60 and 100 per cent for different categories of consumers to bridge its burgeoning revenue gap.

While rejecting the board’s proposal of an increase of 100 per cent for urban domestic consumers, Berc chairman U.N. Panjiar, along with members S.M. Sahay and R.N. Sharma, said the commission had proposed a moderate increase in tariff for all sections of the society keeping in mind the BSEB’s revenue requirement for 2011-12.

The commission has approved an increase of 30 to 65 paise for urban domestic consumers in different slabs. For commercial users, the raise would be between 45 and 50 paise in all slabs, the tariff order said.

“The commission has approved an increase of around 19 per cent in overall tariff rates which will raise additional revenue of Rs 481 crore, leaving a gap of Rs 245 crore which has been kept as regulatory asset. The commission, while determining the rate, has taken care to rationalise the tariff,” Panjiar said.

The commission has also issued a number of directives to the board for reducing its losses and improving its operational and financial performance, he added.

Though the commission has rejected the board’s proposal for introducing an increased tariff rate for Patnaites, Panjiar said: “We have made one rate for all urban areas as we have not made any distinction between the residents of Patna and other towns. But we have given liberty to the board to impose an additional 10 per cent premium on energy bills for providing round-the-clock power supply in an area with few exceptions such as nature fury and major technical snags in grids.”

Asked how it would be ensured that a town or city is being supplied 24 hours of power, Panjiar said the board would have to notify the area or town which would be given such facilities, and that would be communicated to the commission also.

The commission, while hearing the board’s plea to increase the tariff rate, had sought suggestions and objections from all sections of the society such as domestic and commercial users, farmers, industries and a host of other organisations.