No Hike In Electricity Tariff In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Wednesday announced that electricity tariff will remain unchanged.  The retail supply tariff for FY 2020-21 will be the same as FY 2019-20.

According to the notification, the average cost of supply will be 503.38 paise per unit (499.71 paise per unit in FY 2019-20) and average tariff is 482.26 paise (477.21 paise per unit in FY 2019-20) per unit in FY 2020-21.

The Commission has allowed a positive gap in the ARR of DISCOMs to the tune of order of Rs.78.54 crore considering COVID-19 situation (CESU – Rs.15.24 cr., NESCO- Rs.20.69 cr., WESCO- Rs.35.70 cr. and SOUTHCO – Rs.6.91 cr.)

The notification further said that the GRIDCO will purchase 29018.76 MU power during FY 2020-21 and sell 28090 MU to DISCOMs and 60MU to CGP.

“The average power purchase cost will be 278.57 paise per unit for FY 2020-21 as against 259.88 in FY 2019-20. The gap allowed in GRIDCO’s ARR is Rs.660.15 crores as against Rs.172.94 crores in 2019-20. The Commission has not allowed the fixed cost Rs.348.37 crores towards Central sector fixed cost. The average BSP is revised to 271.09 paise per unit for FY 2020-21 as against 270.47 paise per unit in FY 2019-20,” it said.

For individual DISCOM, however, there is no change in BSP rate, it added.

New Features

• A reliability surcharge at 10 paise per unit will continue only for HT consumers availing power irrespective of nature of feeder. This surcharge at 10 paise per unit shall be charged if reliability index is more than 99% and above and voltage profile at consumer end remains within the stipulated limit.
• All the industrial consumers having CD of 1 MW and above and drawing power in 33 KV shall be allowed a rebate of 10 paise per unit for the units consumed in excess of 70% of load factor and up to 80% of load factor and 20 paise per unit for the units consumed in excess of 80% of the load factor per month. This shall be in addition to all other rebate the consumer is otherwise eligible.
• All the industrial consumers drawing power in EHT shall be eligible for a rebate of 10 paise per unit for all the units consumed in excess of 80% of load factor.
• 2% rebate over and above normal rebate shall be allowed on the bill to the LT domestic and single phase general purpose category of consumers only over and above all the rebates who pay through digital means. This rebate shall be applicable on the current month bill if paid in full.
• 2% rebate shall be allowed to all pre-paid consumers on pre-paid amount.
• Charging of electric vehicles shall be treated as GP category.

Considering the COVID-19 situation there has been no hike in RST and BSP. However, if the situation improves during the course of the year the revision of RST and BSP may be considered at appropriate time under Section 62 (4) of the Act, it added.