State power asks Mamata to increase tariff by Rs 1.25 per unit

The department of power has informed the chief minister that unless the electricity tariff is allowed to be upwardly revised the state run power facilities will plunge into deep financial crisis leading to severe shortage of electricity supply to the consumers.

The department of power has calculated that the tariff of electricity must be hiked by a minimum of Rs 1.25 per unit to offset the increase in coal prices.

Accordingly, a written note has been submitted to the chief minister requesting for the permission to petition before the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Authority (WBERC) to seek the increased rate of tariff. On December 30, 2011 the State government allowed its electricity distribution company to increase the tariff by 44 paisa per unit.

The increase That time it was said that the state run WBSEDCL would still incur a loss of around 32 paisa per unit. However, the state government had assured to give additional financial support to make it up.

But, next day the Coal India announced its decision to hike the coal price. Since, West Bengal's electricity generation is mostly coal based, the decision affected it adversely.

According to one senior official of power department, the hike in coal price has pushed up the fuel cost of electricity generation by a minimum Rs 0.75 per unit. Besides that, there are other incremental costs. So, the power department has asked for an increase ofRs 1.25 per unit with immediate.

However, for that the state run electricity companies will have to submit their petitions before the WBERC. But, the chief minister Mamata Banerjee is reluctant to allow another round of hike in electricity tariff fearing that it would stir up anti-government sentiment in the state.

CESC, the private company, which generates and feed electricity to Kolkata, Howrah and nearby industrial belts, has no such problem and it will petition to WBERC shortly asking for the hike in tariff.