Andhra Pradesh: Due to change in tariff and unit slabs, electricity bills increased

Amaravati: The electricity bills are giving shock to the residents, who have already been in the grip of COVID19 lockdown from the last couple of months. The people are in a dilemma to know how their monthly bills are coming at a very high tariff. For instance, an average domestic consumer, who gets around Rs 300 to Rs 400 bill per month, was charged about Rs 5,000 to Rs 9000 and even in some cases Rs 10,000 for the two months, including March and April consumption.

Changes in the new tariff for the retail sale of electricity to domestic consumption, which is effective from the beginning of this financial year 2020-21 is one of the main reason for higher bills. The official sources in the department revealed that the new tariff has a greater impact on even small consumers.

The new tariff changed the criteria for Group A, B and C and their slabs. That caused an additional burden on domestic consumers. For instance, in the previous tariff, which was for the financial year 2019-20 allowed the small consumers up to 300 units in the Group A. But now, the new tariff system allows consumption up to 75 units in the Group A. For instance, in the new system the consumer has to pay Rs 1.45 per unit up to 50 units and Rs 2.60 per unit between 51 to 75 units. If he consumes more than 75 units in the given month, then he will be converted into Group B. In which, the consumer will be charged at Rs 2.60 per unit from 0-100 units, Rs 3.60 per unit from 101-200 units and the charges goes on like that.

In addition to that, the customer charges are in addition to that billed units. The cumulative amount is becoming an unusual burden on consumers.

On the other hand, the government is claiming that due to changes in slabs, the bills are coming like that.

J Padma Janardhan Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Central Power Distribution Corporation explained that the consumption also increased for various reasons in the last two months. The Padma said that due to lockdown the people have been staying at the houses and thus increased the consumption. In addition to that, as summer onset happened, the usage of Air conditions also increased. Further, the consumption time in a given day also increased in the domestic purpose. Above all, the department was giving the bills for two months instead of every month due to COVID19. Hence, the bills are appearing higher than the normal.

The department is charging the two months bills in different tariffs. The bill till the March 31 was charged based on 2019-20 tariff and from April 1 onwards based on 2020-21 tariff. This was another reason behind the abnormal increase in the bills.