Power shocker on the cards

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 10

City residents should be prepared to shell out more for power as the UT Electricity Department has proposed a hike of 15 per cent in the power tariff.
The department has submitted a proposal of a 15 per cent power tariff hike in both the domestic and commercial slabs before the UT Finance-cum-Power Secretary.
After getting a nod, UT officials will place the proposal before the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) in the form of an annual revenue requirement and tariff petition for 2015-16.
A senior official of the UT Administration said after receiving the report of a consultant on the tariff hike issue, they had submitted the proposal. The proposed hike, meant for the period, April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, will be effective only after the JERC gives its approval to it. The commission has been constituted to decide on the power tariff of the union territories.
Sources said while seeking an increase in the tariff, the department had maintained that the average existing tariff for all categories of consumers in Chandigarh was lower than the average cost of supply.
A senior official of the department said the city had no power generation and as such the department bought electricity from various power generation plants. The UT Administration was suffering losses worth crores due to the difference in the purchase and sale prices of power. There are nearly 2 lakh consumers in the city, including 1.75 lakh consumers in the domestic slabs.
Last year, UT’s proposal was turned down
Last year, the JERC had turned down the UT’s 21 per cent power tariff petition because the Electricity Department failed to submit the audited accounts based on commercial accounting principles mentioned in the JERC tariff regulations, 2009. So far, the department has failed to get a commercial audit of its accounts, as desired by the JERC, done.