15 to 70 paise per unit relief in electricity bills from April 1
CHANDIGARH: Power consumers in Haryana will get a relief in their bills from April 1.
The immediate cut in electricity rates will range from 15 to 70 paise per unit for consumers of different categories after the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) decided to fix the fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA) at 65 paise per unit from April 1 to June 30, 2017. The FSA will be brought down further to 37 paise per unit from July 1, according to a detailed order issued by the three member commission.
The consumers presently pay FSA ranging from 80 paise per unit to Rs 1.35 per unit depending on the supply category and monthly consumption. Till now, FSA was being recovered on thehigher-the-consumption-thehigher-the-rate-of-FSA principle. The HERC has now switched to a uniform rate for recovery across all consumer categories except agriculture supply. The state government gives subsidy to power distribution companies for agriculture supply.
FSA is the gap between cost of power purchase allowed by the power regulator on a projected basis while determining the annual revenue requirement of the distribution companies and the actual cost incurred on power purchase. The additional expenditure is recovered from the consumers by way of fuel surcharge adjustment. Chief minister Manohar Lal had on Monday announced in the state assembly that he has requested the commission to lower the FSA by 50-60 paise per unit.
The commission, in its order, said that as of now, the FSA recoverable from the consumers other than those in the agriculture pumpset (AP) supply category come to Rs 828 crore for the period from 2014-15 to 2016-2017. Of this, Rs 426 crore will be recovered between April 1 and June 30. The balance Rs 402 crore will be recovered from the consumers by charging uniform FSA of 37 paise per unit till the time the entire amount is recovered. In September 2016 also, the FSA was reduced by 37 paise per unit following a directive from the power regulatory panel.