Bihar regulatory body cuts power tariff by 2% for 2024-25
The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Authority (BERC) has decided to reduce the electricity tariff by around 2% (15 paise per unit) for all category of consumers during the financial year 2024-25, as per an order passed by the two-member statutory regulator on Friday.
The new power tariff will come into effect from April 1 this year and shall remain effective till March 31, 2025, or the next tariff order of the commission, A K Sinha, member (technical) of the BERC, said while pronouncing the order along with PS Yadav, member (legal).
The effective decrease in power tariff would, however, be known only after the state government decides the quantum of subsidy it wants to pass on to the nearly 1.99 crore power consumers in the state.
The BERC had sanctioned a per unit energy charge of ₹7.42 for the first 100 units and ₹8.95 for subsequent units above 100 for domestic urban consumers (DS-II) against the existing rate of ₹7.57 and ₹9.10, respectively.
The state government presently gives a subsidy of ₹3.30 per unit for the first 100 units and ₹3.43 per unit for the subsequent units above 100, reducing the effective per unit power tariff for urban domestic consumers to ₹4.27 and ₹5.67, respectively.
Similarly, a non-domestic urban consumer (NDS-II) with a contract demand above 0.5kW and up to 70kW will have to pay a per unit energy charge of ₹7.73 for the first 100 units and at ₹8.93 for subsequent units above 100 against the prevailing rate of ₹7.88 and ₹9.08, respectively. The state government now offers a per unit subsidy of ₹2.06 for the first 100 units and ₹2.49 for subsequent units above 100 for such NDS-II consumers, reducing the effective power tariff to ₹5.82 and ₹6.59 per unit, respectively.
The BERC had also revised the per unit energy charge for domestic rural consumers (DS-I) to ₹7.42 for the first 50 units and ₹7.96 for subsequent units above 50 from the existing ₹7.57 and ₹8.11, respectively.
The state government presently offers a per unit subsidy of ₹4.97 for the first 50 units and ₹5.11 for subsequent units above 50, reducing the effective power power tariff to ₹2.60 and ₹3.00, respectively.
“Our domain is to fix tariff, excluding the government subsidy it offers to people. It is the sole discretion of the government how much subsidy it wants to give to its power consumers. The government subsidy will determine the effective rate of decrease in power tariff,” Sinha told reporters after reading out the order.
“The two discoms – North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited — had proposed a 3.03% increase in power tariff for 2024-25. However, keeping in view the revenue surplus, as determined in the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR), which is the revenue required to meet the costs pertaining to the licensed business, the commission did not accept it, and decided to reduce tariff for all consumer categories,” said Sinha.
In 2021-22, the BERC had reduced power tariff by 10 paise per unit.