The Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited is said to have proposed 50 per cent hike in energy charges in its aggregate revenue requirement tariff petition for 2015-16, filed with the Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission last week.
Justifying the proposal for the upward tariff revision, a Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited (BSPHCL) official said there had been a huge increase in the price of electricity purchased from the open market. He said the company had been paying NTPC Rs 200 crore per month on account of power purchase.
According to him, the distribution companies — South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited — have been supplying electricity worth over Rs 650 crore per month and collecting revenue of Rs 350 to Rs 400 crore on an average. “Against this backdrop, seeking an upward revision of power tariff is normal,” he added.
A source said all the four companies under BSPHCL — South and North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, Bihar State Power Generation Company Limited and Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited — filed separate petitions seeking upward revision of tariff with the Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (Berc) on Saturday.
An official of Berc — the regulatory body entrusted with the job of fixing electricity tariff — said: “We shall examine the petitions and then conduct public hearings, giving opportunity to all the stakeholders to air their views.”
Berc is likely to hold public hearings in nine divisional headquarters towns of the state. The public hearings are expected to start at the end of December and continue till February 2015.
The power company refused to share the tariff hike proposal for different categories but one of its officials said the firm had proposed to do away with the slab system.
The company had even last year proposed to do away with the slab system but the commission spiked it. It did not revise the tariff either for the 2014-15 fiscal. Berc is expected to pronounce the new tariff rate for the financial year 2015-16 in March next year.
The power tariff hike possibility has triggered opposition from power consumers of different categories. “Instead of collecting energy bills from big industrial and commercial enterprises, the power company is targeting domestic consumers. This is unfair,” said Umakant Singh of Mithapur.
Bihar Industries Association’s energy committee chairman Sanjay Bharatiya said: “I was expecting downward revision of power tariff from the next financial year because the power firms have improved their efficiency by giving new connections and installing meters in large numbers across the state. The tariff hike proposal is really exorbitant and would pose problems for industries. The rates should be competitive enough to make the industries viable.”
STEP BY STEP
Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission would pronounce the tariff rate for the next financial year in March 2015
If there is any revision in tariff, it would be applicable from April 1, 2015
The commission kept the power tariff unchanged for all consumers in 2014-15
It had made a hike of 6.9 per cent in 2013-14 and 12.1 per cent in 2012-13
The panel had allowed 19 per cent hike in 2011-12 and an increase of just five paise per unit in its tariff order for 2010-11
