A day after civic polls, UP announces steep hike in power tariffs

Lucknow Nov 30 (IANS) A day after the civic polls concluded in Uttar Pradesh the state government on Thursday announced a steep 12 per cent hike in power tariffs.

Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) Chairman S.K. Agarwal said at a press conference here that while the state had proposed a 20 per cent hike the commission had okayed a 12 per cent increase in power tariffs.

The increased tariff will come into force from April 1 and would be across the board equally for urban rural and commercial consumers.

In villages unmetered consumers will have to give a fixed charge of Rs 300 per month against the present Rs 180. Urban consumers will have to pay Rs 4.90 per unit till 150 units Rs 5.40 per unit from 150-300 units Rs 6.20 per unit between 300 to 500 unit usage and Rs 6.50 per unit for above 500 units.

In rural areas metered consumers will have to pay Rs 3.50 per unit for usage between 100-150 units Rs 4.50 per unit for usage between 150-300 units per month and Rs 5.50 per unit for consumption of 500 units and above per month.

Power tariff has also been hiked for farmers. While as of now each farmer using electricity for irrigation purposes had to pay Rs 100 for one BHP they will now have to cough up Rs 150.

At present Uttar Pradesh has 1.20 crore power consumers and the state government wants to add another 3 crore in its ambit by the financial year 2018-2019.

--IANS
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