CHENNAI: As the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-linked annual power tariff revision for 2025-26 kicks in on Tuesday, as per the orders issued by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) on Monday, the state government has announced that it will absorb Rs 519.84 crore additional cost per year to protect 2.83 crore power consumers, including households and small-scale industries, from incurring higher power tariff.
The order issued by TNERC has increased energy charges, fixed charges, and demand charges for all categories of consumers at 3.16% as expected, which is the escalation rate of CPI from April 2024 to April 2025.
Soon after the order was issued, a release by Minister for Electricity SS Sivasankar said, as assured earlier by Chief Minister MK Stalin, the increase in tariff will be fully absorbed by the government for 2.42 domestic consumers for all consumption slabs.
Since the exemption from fixed charges for domestic consumers will also be continued, there will be no impact on them due to the tariff increase, the release said.
The other category of users whose tariff hike will be borne by the government includes low-tension industries with a sanctioned load of up to 50 kW, small commercial establishments using up to 500 units of power bimonthly, cottage and micro industries, and power looms.
The release clarified that free power of 100 units for domestic consumers, 1,000 units for power looms, and free power for huts will continue.
Discom got Rs 15K-cr subsidy last fiscal
This is besides the existing subsidies for agriculture, handlooms, and places of worship.
Official sources said that all other categories of consumers will have to bear the increased tariff of 3.16%. This included fixed and energy charges for common facilities for domestic consumers residing in multi-tenements (apartments) with more than three floors.
While the energy charges for this category have been increased from Rs 8.55 per unit to Rs 8.8, fixed charges per month have gone up from Rs 107 to Rs 110.
Other categories who will bear the burden of tariff increase included educational institutions and hospitals (low-tension and high-tension), low-tension industries with a sanctioned load of over 50 kW, and all other high-tension consumers like industries, factories, IT services, railway traction, Chennai Metro Rail Limited, EV charging stations and construction activities and other temporary activities.
For these high-tension categories, revised energy charge ranges from Rs 7.5 to Rs 13.25 per unit depending on the categories. The government will pay the additional Rs 519.84 crore to TNPDCL, the State’s discom, apart from its existing commitments for various kinds of tariff subsidies. The tariff subsidy provided by the government to TNPDCL for 2024-25 was Rs 15,772 crore.