Srinagar, Apr 19: The state government’s claim of having “nominally” hiked the power tariff from the current month, looks nothing more than a jugglery of words because a dissection of the new tariff schedule reveals the Aam Aadmi will have to pay by over 16% more.
This will be the second power tariff hike in the past six months. The state government had affected average 17% hike in power tariff last October and with the latest increase the cumulative step up in the tariff during the past six months has gone up to 33%.

THE FEE HIKE
Jammu and Kashmir State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JKSERC) approved the power tariff hike for various consumers proposed by the Power Development Department (PDD) in the state from April 1, 2012.
Official documents reveal that the “Order on Annual Revenue Requirement and Determination of Retail Tariffs for Financial Year 2012-13 has been released by the JKSERC for PDD, Government of J&K.”
The revised schedule gives details of hikes on various consumers including domestic and commercial.
But the fee hike has affected the non-metered domestic consumers the most, who shall have to pay over 16% more fee.

16% PLUS FACTOR
If official records are to be believed, the non-metered domestic consumers who constitute some 60% of the clientele will have to pay through their nose.
The government had suggested a 35% hike in the tariff of non-metered areas whereas 23% for the metered consumers. But the final nod was made on a hike of 16% on the flat rate (non-metered consumers) and 8% on the metered.
Though the official records suggest that there has been a mere 9 % hike in the overall tariff, the actual picture is altogether different.

THE COMMERCIAL HIKE
Similar has been the hike for the commercial consumers, mostly shops and related business establishments. The fare for the non-metered commercial consumers including shopkeepers of Shaher-e-Khaas has been hiked by 18 % whereas the tariff for the metered clientele in the sector has been hiked by 7 %.

AGRI HIKE
The hike in the agriculture sector has been no less. There’s a 5 % increase for the metered category and 10 % for the flat rate consumers.

THE JUGGLERY
The actual fee, which the consumer will have to pay, will be more than the prescribed hike. This is because the hike won’t be applicable on the units consumed or the Flat Rate as applicable in case of Non-Metered lot, but on amount 22 % more than basic.
This is because 22% of Electricity Duty which is levied on most of the consumers including the domestic lot, would be added to the basic amount prior to the hike.
“Simply put if Rs 100 was the Flat Rate for the non-metered domestic consumer. He used to pay Rs 122(including Rs 22 as ED). But for now this new hike will be applicable on the basic rate plus the ED. That means 16% hike in case of domestic will be levied on Rs 122 and not Rs 100 as some could be thinking,” explained a senior PDD official on phone from Jammu Secretariat.

OFFICIALS SPEAK
When contacted a senior official in the JKSERC said the entire exercise has been done transparently. “The entire details about the hike have been posted on our website,” he said.
To a question on hike being seemingly more for the Aam Aadmi, he said: “The actual proposal was almost double of what has been hiked.”
“So for that matter we have given all possible relaxation to consumers while going for hike,” the official said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST