Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government has recommended a hike in the power tariff between 15 paisa to 60 paisa per Kilowatt for domestic low-tension consumers and 70 paise per Kwh for high-tension domestic consumers for the upcoming 2023-24.
This, if approved by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), would be the third hike within one year.
The State Electricity department in a public notice issued on Friday has requested for response from general public by January 24. The proposed hike is recommended to meet the revenue gap.
After not hiking power tariffs for the past two years, the Goa electricity department has notified a new power tariff with a hike in the tariff for domestic power consumer
As per the public notice, for domestic low-tension line consumers hike of 15 paise to 60 paise per Kwh has been proposed based on units consumed. Like for the first 100 units, the charges are hiked from Rs 1.6 paisa per unit to Rs 1.75 paisa per Kwh, whereas for consumption between 100-200 units it is proposed to hike from Rs 2.35 paisa per unit to Rs 2.60 paisa per unit.
For unit consumption upto 300, the hike proposed is Rs 3.30 per unit from the existing Rs 2.95 per unit and for upto 400 it is Rs 4.40 per unit. For consumption above 400 units, Rs 5.10 paisa rate is proposed as against Rs 4.50 paisa per unit.
In addition, it has been proposed to increase the fixed charges to Rs 22/Kilowatt/per month.
For high-tension domestic consumers, a hike of 70 paise per kilowatt hour has been proposed. For commercial low-tension consumers, a hike from 45 paise to 75 paise per kwh has been proposed as per units consumed.
In addition hike of Rs 5 per KW per month on fixed charges for consumers with load upto 20 Kw and hike of Rs 10 per KW per Month on fixed charges for consumers with load more than 20 Kw has been proposed.
As per the department proposal, the State government bridges the revenue gap of the department each year through Budgetary Support and proposed revenue gap for FY 2023-24 of Rs. 348.69 Cr will be met through budgetary support by government, states the notice.
“However, the same will not help in long run. Hence, the department has decided to increase the tariff for consumers as is being levied on them currently. Accordingly, to partially bridge the revenue gap and to avoid the tariff shock to consumers in future, it proposes to increase in current Tariff,” stated the public notice.
In April and June 2022, respectively, the State had hiked the power tariff.