Hike in power tariff not proposed by HPSEB

Shimla, Jun 2 (UNI) Clarifying that the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) had not proposed any hike in power tariff for domestic consumers, a top board official today said the tariffs were determined by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), set up under the Electricity Act 2003.

HPSEB Chairman Ajay Mittal said the board had not proposed any hike in the power charges for the domestic consumers in its petition filed with the SERC.

''SERC has determined the tariffs on its own and the state government has no role in it,'' he added.

Mr Mittal said the state government was providing a subsidy of Rs 140 crore, which would continue this year too.

However, due to a memorandum of understanding signed by the previous government with the World Bank the subsidy could not exceed a total of Rs 140 crore and has to be maintained at that level, he added.

He said in order to reduce the burden on the consumers, the state government had made a provision of Rs 80 crore under the Atal Bijli Bachat Yojna and would provide four CFL bulbs free of cost to all domestic consumers within the state.

These bulbs would reduce the electricity bills considerably, conserve energy and ensure uninterrupted power to the consumers, he added.

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