GERC to hike agriculture
sector tariff by 400%
The
Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission is all set to do what politicians
in Gujarat have never dared to. The tariff for the agricultural sector
in Gujarat, which at present is 20 paise per unit will go up by nearly
400 per cent. Overall through different tariff revision, the GEB will
be able to garness an additional amount of Rs.1,150 to 1,200 crores
per year with the GERC award.
Top GEB sources said that
till now various politicians in a bid to woo the agricultural sector
had been apprehensive to raise the tariff. The GERC in one stroke is
to hike the agricultural sector tariff from the existing 20 paise per
unit to something between 90 paise and one rupee per unit. The GEB's
present loss is at Rs.3,200 crores. With the GERC's new tariff bringing
in an additional amount of something between Rs.1.150-1,200 crores and
the 1,200 crores annual subsidy of the Gujaqrat government, the GEB
would still be making an annual loss of Rs.800 crores.
"The GERC should have been
even more strict. With this package and an annual Rs.800 crores loss,
the GEB would financially again come to where it is in just three years
times," a top GEB union source confided to this newspaper.
The GERC was set up on
central guidelines to revise and regulate power tariff in Gujarat. It
is going to be mandatory for the Keshubhai Patel government to accept
the GERC award, which is to be announced by chairman, retired Justice
D.G.Karia in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
An Asian Development Bank
500 million $ loan that the Gujarat government is eyeing g for various
power related d3evelopment projects would not be coming in if the GERC
award is not accepted by the state government.
According to the GEB source,
the GERC appears to be in favor of the agricultural sector going in
for meters. At present those with meters pay 70 paise per unit. They
will be given a discount henceforth. This is going to be only area where
GERC has doled out discounts.
Unlike the past when industry
has been the only sector that was bearing the brunt of the erratic and
haphazard tariff increase, the GERC seems to have realized the woes
of the industry sector that has been suffering because of the incessant
subsidies to the agricultural sector.
While there will be less
than 12 per cent increase in the tariff for the LT industrial consumers,
the increase in HT industrial consumers would even be less than four
percent. In fact the HT industrial consumers would be the ones with
the least amount of increase in tariff.
For the domestic consumers
of GEB, the tariff will increase between 8.5 to 9 per cent. For commercial
consumers, the increase is going to be somewhere near 12 per cent. The
increase in tariff for public lights (streetlights) is somewhere near
10 per cent and for water works the increase is between 9 to 10 per
cent. The tariff hike for railways is going to be somewhere near three
percent. There is a probability of bad news for the Ahmedabad Electricity
Company consumers with a .50 per cent increase in tariff for them. This
is the first time that an autonomous body is going to announce the tariff
revision in the state. Till now, the decisions have largely been of
the GEB influenced by the state government.
The nearly 400 per cent
increase in tariff for the agricultural sector is likely to upset the
Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, the powerful body of farmers in the state. The
BKS is the farmers' wing of the ruling BJP but they are likely to stage
strong protests against what they might describe as an abnormal hike
in power tariff.
"Considering the number
of public hearings GERC had organised, we were expecting even a more
strict tariff. But with this, the GERC has already given 50 per cent
relief to the loss making GEB by generating additional amount of nearly
Rs.1,200 crores."
