BANGALORE: Consumers have received another shock as the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday announced an average hike of 27.35 paise per unit and set different levels of hikes for varied categories.The KERC decision comes following on the tariff application filed by electricity supply companies (Escoms) in the state requesting a uniform 88 paise hike across all slabs.Domestic consumers using up to 30 units a month in urban areas will pay 10 paise more per unit of power taking the rate to Rs 2.20, and 50 paise more per unit for consumption above 200 units per month, thus taking the rate to Rs 5.50 a unit. Consumers using between 30 and 100 units will pay 20 Paise more per unit and consumers using between 100 and 200 units will pay Rs 4.50 a unit. Rural consumers will pay 10 paise more per unit up to 100 units.Tariff for irrigation pumpsets above 10 HP, private horticulture nurseries and coffee and tea plantations has been increased from Rs 1.25 to Rs 1.40. However, tariff for water supply works in urban and rural areas as well as tariffs for railway traction and effluent plants remain unchanged.Low tension (LT) industrial connection owners in Bangalore will now pay between 4 and Rs 5 in lieu of the earlier range of Rs 3.60 to Rs 4.70 a unit. High tension (HT) users will facing a uniform tariff hike of 30 paise a unit over the existing rates of Rs 4.60 and Rs 5.The KERC proactively decided to approve increases of fixed charges by Rs 5 per KW per month for most categories of consumers in order to apportion the additional revenue requirement between energy and fixed charges. “Fixed charges had not been reviewed for a long time. We felt it necessary in view of rising costs of infrastructure and staff,” said MR Sreenivasa Murthy, chairman, KERC.KERC also increased the government subsidy payable towards free supply of electricity to irrigation pumpsets below 10 HP and Bhagya Jyothi/Kutirjyothi (BJ/KJ) connections to Rs 4,156 crore for the current year from Rs 3,577 crore paid for 2010-11. The commission further approved an amount of Rs 17,036.35 crore towards expenditure for all Escoms which have together sold 37,102 million units during the year.
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