Residents of the steel city and Seraikela-Kharsawan will have to pay more for power, effective from June 1, with Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC) okaying the hike in electricity tariff proposed by Tata Steel and Jusco, licensees of Jamshedpur and its adjoining industrial district.

From now, a Jamshedpur family which uses 200 units will pay Rs 50 extra a month while its Seraikela-Kharsawan counterpart will pay Rs 25 more.

Domestic consumers in Jamshedpur will pay Rs 2.10 per unit instead of Rs 1.90 for consumption of up to 100 units. Between 101-400 units, a consumer will have to pay Rs 3.50 against Rs 3.20 for each unit. Those consuming over 400 units will pay Rs 3.90 instead of Rs 3.50 a unit.

Power rates for commercial establishments for all units in Jamshedpur were hiked from Rs 5 to Rs 5.85 per unit.

In Seraikela-Kharsawan, which includes industrial hub Adityapur, domestic consumers will pay Rs 1.60 per unit instead of Rs 1.50 for consumption of up to 200 units. For consumption beyond 200 units, district residents will pay Rs 2 instead of Rs 1.90 per unit.

In the district, the commercial category is divided into rural and urban segments.

In the rural segment, consumers will pay energy charges of Rs 1.40 per unit instead of Rs 1.35. In the urban segment, consumers will pay Rs 4.10 per unit instead of Rs 3.95. Charges are the same for any number of units consumed.

"The revised tariff has been arrived at to recover the cost of electricity primarily due to increase in power purchase costs," said Rajesh Rajan, Jusco chief of corporate communications and event management.

Jusco buys power from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Tata Steel.

"We purchase power from Tata Power and DVC at rates determined by JSERC and this constitutes 87 per cent of our power distribution cost. All generating companies have been allowed tariff hike, which results in increased cost load on distributing companies. We have no other option but to implement a tariff hike for 2015-16," said an official of Jusco.

"The tariff increase for retail urban domestic consumers has been lower compared to other categories so that common citizens are not overburdened. Even with this increased tariff, domestic tariff is still lower than most other comparable cities in the country," Rajan said.

Shekhar Dey, a Bistupur resident, lauded Jusco for ensuring smooth power supply but objected to the hike.

"Jusco had earlier increased power tariff in June 2014 by about eight per cent in domestic and commercial category. They should have spared it this year," Dey said.

But, an industrialist in Seraikela-Kharsawan, R.K. Sinha, had a different opinion, He said the power tariff hike was justified.

"Medium and large-scale industries in Adityapur are immensely benefited due to the interrupted power supply given by Jusco. Hence, I think this moderate hike is justified," he said.