Electricity prices may increase once again in Uttarakhand, Energy Corporation sent a proposal, there was an increase of 2.68 percent in April

The Energy Corporation is continuously under pressure to increase the electricity rates. On Wednesday, the corporation has sent a preliminary proposal to the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission to increase the electricity rates by 16 percent. The detailed proposal will be submitted to the commission on Thursday. The detailed offer may differ slightly from the initial offer. The amount of one lakh to be deposited for hearing on the petition has also been deposited in the account of the commission through RTGS. The Energy Corporation has demanded from the commission to compensate for the financial loss of about 1400 crores due to purchase of expensive power. It has been argued that there has been continuous power crisis in March, April, May, June and July. During this crisis, in order to provide regular power supply to the general public, additional electricity had to be purchased from the market. Due to the power crisis in the market, the electricity rates did not stay below Rs 12 per unit. In the months of March, April, May, the rates remained up to Rs 20 per unit.

By purchasing electricity at these expensive rates, electricity was made available to the general public at the rate of Rs 4 per unit. To compensate for this loss, this additional expenditure of about 1400 crores should be approved in the form of increase in electricity rates. For this, the corporation has filed a new petition in the commission this time, whereas the review petition was filed last time. At the level of the commission, now the process of hearing will be started after examining the petition of the corporation. After the hearing, the decision will be taken at the level of the commission.

UPCL MD Anil Kumar said, “This time the demand for electricity has increased continuously. In July also the demand is running above 50 MU. In such a situation, to keep the power supply regular, one has to depend on the expensive electricity of the market. Due to this the additional financial burden of crores has increased on the corporation.

There was an increase of 2.68 percent in April

The corporation had proposed to increase electricity rates in December 2021. After examining this proposal, the commission had increased the electricity rates by 2.68 percent from April 1. The corporation had filed a review petition against this decision of the commission.

12.50 proposal has been rejected

In May 2022, the corporation had proposed to the commission a 12.50 percent increase in electricity rates. Before accepting this proposal, the commission had taken objections, suggestions from all sections including the general public, industries. After hearing all the parties, the petition was dismissed.