Raipur, June 15 (IANS). Chhattisgarh Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved the new electricity rates for the financial year 2026-27. Under this, electricity rates for domestic consumers have been increased by 30 to 50 paise per unit, while for non-domestic consumers the rates have been increased by 20 to 40 paise per unit.
Electricity rates for agricultural pumps have also been increased by 40 paise per unit. However, the discount given to farmers on non-subsidized agricultural connections has been increased from 30 percent to 40 percent. This decision is likely to impact the household budget of common consumers and the costs of farmers.
The average billing rate for FY 2026-27 has been fixed at Rs 6.71 per unit, which is 42 paise less than the average cost rate of Rs 7.13 per unit.
Many other changes have also been made along with the new rates. Electricity rates of local body offices, hostels in rural areas and some public utility institutions have been included in the domestic category, which will provide relief to these institutions.
Commission officials said on Monday that farmers will continue to be allowed to use lights and fans up to 100 watts near agricultural pumps for farm related work as before.
In other changes, late payment surcharge on late payment of electricity bill has been changed from 1.5 percent per month to 0.04 percent per day. Apart from this, the rebate available to prepaid meter consumers has been revised and the facility of electric vehicle charging tariff has been extended to those opting for minus metering.
Commission members Vinod Ganodwale (Legal), Ajay Kumar Singh (Technical) and Secretary Surya Prakash Shukla said that the power distribution company had presented an estimate of power sales of 38,729 million units and annual revenue requirement (ARR) of Rs 32,520 crore.
However, the Commission has approved power sales of 39,760 million units and ARR of Rs 28,348 crore.
The power distribution company had claimed a revenue loss of Rs 6,304 crore, but in the Commission’s review this figure came down to Rs 1,662 crore.
The Commission says that an attempt has been made to strike a balance between the interests of consumers and the financial needs of power companies. However, due to the implementation of new rates, it is certain that there will be additional financial burden on the electricity consumers in the state and the cost of electricity will increase in the future.
–IANS
AMT/ABM
