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Power to cost more in Punjab as energy tariff up by 9.33%

Chandigarh: Consumers will have to shell out more for electricity as sectoral regulator Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) on Monday announced a hike in power tariff by 9.33 per cent for 2017-18.
However, opposition parties AAP, SAD and BJP condemned the hike in power tariff, saying the Congress government had yet again "deceived" people by increasing tariff for both domestic and industrial supply.
The new tariff order will be implemented with retrospective effect from April 1 this year.
Although the increase in electricity charges will be recovered from consumers in installments over a period of nine months, said PSERC chairperson Kusumjit Kaur Sidhu here today.
As per new tariff, the tariff for domestic consumers has been increased between 7 per cent and 12 per cent. The proposed increase has been in the range of 46 paise per unit to 80 paise per unit.
For industrial sector, the power tariff has been increased by 8.50 per cent to 12 per cent while for commercial category, the electricity rates have been jacked up by 8 to 11 per cent, PSERC chairperson said.
For industrial category, the increase per unit is in the range of 54 paise to 65 paise per unit and for commercial sector, the proposed increase is in the range of 57 paise to 72 paise per unit.
For the agriculture sector, the proposed tariff has been increased by 48 paise per unit to 506 paise a unit.
Notably, farmers are provided free power by the government. The state government has pegged the subsidy burden on account of free power at Rs 6,000 crore for 2017-18.
For the bulk supply, the power rate has been increased in the range of 10.52 per cent to 11.08 per cent.
The fixed charges will be in the range of Rs 20 per kW to Rs 60 kVA for domestic supply, Rs 50 to 100 per kVA for commercial supply and Rs 85 to 295 per kVA for industrial category including bulk supply, as per the order.
The hike in power tariff was announced after a gap of three years, said the PSERC chairperson.
Addressing media persons here, Sidhu said the consolidated gap of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited was worked out at Rs 2,522.62 crore against power utility's proposal of Rs 11,575.53 crore.
"This new tariff is fixed for one year 2017-18," said the chairperson.
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