Bhubaneswar: With an aim not to put any additional burden on power consumers of the State, the Department of Energy has appealed to Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) not to hike the power tariff for the financial year 2024-25.
During a hearing to decide power tariff for the upcoming financial year, the Department of Energy has submitted its petition to OERC requesting not to increase the electricity tariff in the financial year 2024-25.
GRIDCO has proposed that the power distribution companies will be able to meet the additional expenditure required for power procurement from last year’s regulatory surplus and additional revenue to be generated due to increased electricity demand, officials said.
During the public hearing, GRIDCO has presented detailed information on plans to meet consumer demand and ensure uninterrupted power supply to the consumers in the coming financial year.
The OERC had started public hearings on January 30 and will continue till February 6. The distribution companies set to request the Commission to hike power tariff in order to recover their losses due to transmission and other issues.
Power distribution companies TPNODL submitted its request on February 2 while TPCODL will face the Commission on February 3. Other two DISCOMs—TPWODL and TPSODL will attend the hearing on February 5 and February 6 respectively.
On February 7, a state advisory committee meeting of OERC will be conducted here. The Commission will discuss with them about different issues related to ARR and power tariff before passing the judgment. The OERC may pronounce the order on March 23, sources said.
The Commission had ordered not to change the power tariff for the financial year 2023-24. So, there was no power tariff hike during the current year. Retail supply tariff has remained unrevised during the last two consecutive years.
The electricity tariff for domestic consumers for the first 50 units remained Rs 3 per unit, while it is Rs 4.80 per unit for consumption between 50 and 200 units.
Similarly, the tariff is Rs 5.80 per unit for consumption between 200 and 400 units, while Rs 6.20 is being charged per unit for power consumption above 400 units.
The Commission had given several concessions to the electricity consumers last year. The OERC had hiked 30 paise per unit for the year 2021-22. It had hiked 20 paise per unit of electricity consumed in the state from October 1, 2020.
