BENGALURU: Be ready to pay more power bill than expected the next time. The recent power tariff hike announced by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has been made effective from April 1 itself. The hikes are usually announced before the bills are generated for April in the first week of May. But this year, the hike was announced after bill generation due to the poll code of conduct. Power consumed in the month of April will be charged at the new rates and the difference will be mentioned in the new bill.
For domestic consumers who generally get an electricity bill of around Rs 1,000, the difference in the old bill and new is likely to be between Rs 80 and 100 more. With arrears of April added to this, June's bill will be around Rs 200 more than what the consumer would usually pay. The higher the consumption of power, the more exponential the increase in bill amount is likely to be.
The KERC tariff introduced a 25 paise hike across all slabs of power consumption for customers living in urban areas. In rural areas of electricity supply companies other than the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), the hike is lower at 20 paise only for the first 30 units of power that the customer consumes. The hike was strongly opposed by industry and customers alike as the cost of power is not commensurate with the quality of power being supplied.
This year, the city has seen several unscheduled power cuts due to rains, maintenance issues and technical faults leading to a large section of customers opting for backup options like inverters and generators.
"Just five years earlier, my monthly bill used to be around Rs 800. Now, I pay around 1,300-1,500 a month. The quality of power supply and reliability has not changed one bit and in the past year, it has become worse as the helpline is never reachable and the staff are rude," said Lakshmikant BS, a resident of Kengeri.
Sample bill for household with 3 KW electricity connection
OLD
Fixed charges D 140
Energy consumption charges
0-30 KWH D 97.5
31-100 KWH D 324.3
101-200 KWH D 618.75
TOTAL D 1,180.55
NEW
Fixed charges D 170
Energy consumption charges
0-30 KWH D 105
31-100 KWH D 341.55
101-200 KWH D 643.5
TOTAL D 1,260.05