Bengaluru: Starting April 1, 2025, power consumers in Karnataka will face changes in their bills as the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) introduces a new multi-year tariff (MYT) structure.
While energy charges for domestic and industrial consumers will be reduced, fixed charges will see a hike.
Additionally, a surcharge of 36 paise per unit will be levied to cover pension and gratuity (P&G) contributions for retired employees of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation (KPTCL) and ESCOMs, as approved by KERC. This surcharge will gradually decrease to 35 paise in 2026-27 and 34 paise in 2027-28.
Under the revised tariff, domestic consumers will see energy rates drop from ₹5.90 to ₹5.80 per unit in 2025-26 and ₹5.75 by 2027-28.
However, fixed charges per kilowatt (KW) will rise from ₹120 to ₹145 in the first year and reach ₹155 by the third year. Industrial and commercial consumers will also benefit, with the HT-2 (a) industrial tariff reducing from ₹6.90 to ₹6.60 per unit in the first two years and ₹6.50 in the third. The HT-2 (b) commercial tariff will see a significant reduction from ₹8 to ₹5.95 per unit in the first year, dropping further to ₹5.40 by 2027-28.
The tariff revision comes despite power supply companies initially proposing a hike of 67 paise per unit for 2025-26, rising to 96 paise by 2027-28.
However, KERC rejected the steep increase, opting instead to streamline the tariff by removing sanctioned load slabs for a uniform charge structure.
Meanwhile, the state government’s directive to recover its share of pension and gratuity contributions from consumers has drawn criticism. State BJP president B Y Vijayendra slammed the move, stating, “People of the state must be cautious about the 36 paise increase in power tariffs, as the current government is a pickpocket government. On one hand, they claim to be implementing guarantee (populist) schemes, while on the other, they are burdening the people with price hikes and taking back the money.”
While the increased fixed charges may impact households consuming over 200 units per month, officials argue that lower energy tariffs will offset the overall effect. Industrial consumers have largely welcomed the tariff cuts, seeing them as a step toward easing operational costs.
