Hydropower to cost more in Uttarakhand

In a jolt to power consumers, the Uttarakhand government has cleared a hike in power tariff in the hill state, an official said on Saturday.

He said the new government has given the green signal to change the parameters of royalty and cess levied on the nine big hydropower projects in the state which produce 1252 MW of electricity.

The power tariff on electricity produced from these projects costing Rs 2 per unit till now will have a cess of 30 paise and a royalty of 10 paise per unit. This is likely to affect over 20 lakh subscribers in the state.

The government has said projects which can levy the new tariff have to be at least ten years old. Nine hydropower projects come under this ambit while the nine-year-old Manerbhali project is out of it.

The decision has been ratified by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat-led cabinet, an official said.