BHUBANESWAR : The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Tuesday sprang a surprise by slashing the retail supply tariff (RST) by 10 paise in each slab for domestic consumers for 2024-25 while keeping the tariff constant in other categories for three years effective from ensuing fiscal.
Announcing the salient features of the tariff orders more than a month ahead of the scheduled pronouncement, OERC director (regulatory affairs) Priyabrat Patnaik told mediapersons that this is for the first time power tariff has been reduced in the state.
“The retail supply tariff in domestic category has been reduced by 10 paise in each slab. The RST has not been revised for all other categories and will remain constant for three years beginning 2024-25,” Patnaik said adding, the new tariff will be effective from April 1, 2024.
In effect, a domestic consumer will now pay Rs 2.90 per unit for the first 50 units, Rs 4.70 per unit for consumption of 51-200 units, Rs 5.70 per unit for consumption between 201 to 400 units and Rs 6.10 per unit for consumption beyond 400 units. Consumers who opt for e-bill will get a rebate of Rs 10 per bill and those with prepaid meters will get four per cent rebate on the amount.
The low transmission (LT) domestic and single-phase general-purpose consumers will continue to get four per cent digital payment rebate. Rural domestic consumers will get a rebate of 10 paise per unit if the bill is paid by due date. The fixed monthly charges for BPL consumers have also been reduced from Rs 80 to Rs 70 per month. In a bid promote green energy and electric vehicles, the commission has reduced the green energy tariff from 25 paise to 20 paise per unit.
“There was a surplus revenue of Rs 785.46 crore after truing up of the aggregated revenue requirement (ARR) of the four distribution companies up to 2022-23 out of which the commission allowed Rs 555 crore to be adjusted in the ARR”, Patnaik said.
Smile factors
RST reduced by 10 paise in each slab
Rs 2.90 per unit for the first 50 units
Rs 4.70 per unit from 51 to 200 units
Rs 5.70 per unit for 201-400 units
Rs 6.10 per unit beyond 400 units
No change in tariff for other categories for 3 yrs
OERC slashes domestic tariff
The same amount was passed on to the consumers by reducing the domestic tariff and keeping it unchanged for other categories, he added.
The average power purchase cost of GRIDCO, the bulk supplier of power, has been marginally revised from 310.34 paise to 320.94 paise per unit while keeping the average bulk supply price at 328.20 paise against the current rate of 329 paise per unit. The AT&C loss approved for tariff determination was 18.79 per cent whereas actual loss for 2022-23 was 18.14 per cent, he said.