Many power consumers are apprehending that they might end up paying more for their March-April bill owing to the hike in tariff that would be effective from April 1.

The bill is generally generated around the 10th of every month.

Pankaj Kumar, a resident of Ashiana Nagar in west Patna, said: "The officials of power companies have not bothered to allay the confusion prevailing in consumers' mind on this front. What if one is charged according to the revised rates?"

For urban domestic consumers, the hike was steep as the Berc in its recommendation had said that instead of paying at the rate of Rs 3 per unit for the first 100 units of consumption, such consumers would pay at the rate of Rs 5.75 per unit for the first 100 units.

The rate for the next 100 units (101 to 200) was revised from Rs 3.65 per unit to Rs 6.50 per unit and for the next slab (201 to 300 units) the rate was revised from Rs 4.35 per unit to Rs 7.25 per unit.

For units consumed above 300 units, domestic consumers will now pay Rs 8 per unit instead of the existing Rs 5.45 per unit.

"Consumers need not worry," a senior official of a power distribution company said. "Even though the bill cycle spreads over two months, we are doing the necessary changes in the billing software to ensure that consumers pay as per the rates during which they consume power."

Explaining his point, the official said: "First, the average daily consumption of consumers will be calculated and while billing the consumed units, the average daily consumption will be divided proportionately for the month of March and April."

For example, if the average daily consumption of a consumer is 10 units per day and the billing cycle is from March 10 to April 10, in that case the consumer will be charged as per old rates for the 21 days of March, and for the 10 days of April he will be charged as per the new rate.

"Our software will take care of the issue and hence the consumers will not end up paying anything extra," claimed the official.

As far as the finalisation of the revised tariff is concerned, the matter has not been settled yet as the government has not cleared its stand on how much subsidy it would provide to reduce the load on consumers.

"A detailed presentation on this issue is scheduled to be made by senior power company officials before the chief minister on Wednesday after which the government will take the final call on subsidy to be given," a source in the Bihar State Power Holding Company said on Wednesday.