Power supply in Jharkhand would soon be very expensive because the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) has already announced a massive increase of 60 per cent in power tariffs in the next financial year. This distribution company has formally submitted a petition for tariff revision before the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC), which has provoked popular attention and concern in the state.
JBVNL indicated that the planned increase is required to deal with the growing costs of operation, the high cost of power purchase, and the economic cost of entering into long-term power purchasing contracts. The utility has indicated that it is going to make accumulating losses unless there is a significant tariff adjustment, which may impact the capacity to continue supplying and improve infrastructure. The petition notes that the existing tariff framework is not suitable to help address increasing spending, and the revision of the tariffs upwards is inevitable.
When it goes through, it will have a direct effect on the lakhs of domestic consumers since the price per unit of households will go up drastically by then. The increased rates of electricity may also be imposed on commercial and industrial consumers as well as the agricultural users, and this may have a wider economic effect. The concern of farmers who irrigate their farms using electricity is an especially worrying issue because when the cost increases, it will also be part of the financial burden on the agricultural sector.
The proposal is, however, just the beginning of the regulatory process. JSERC will now consider the petition, give the objections of the consumers, hold a public hearing and make a final decision. The regulator also declined huge hikes in tariffs by JBVNL in the past years, indicating that the regulator did not see substantial improvement in the quality and efficiency of the services. Consumer rights groups and trade bodies will also be expected to play an active part in the coming hearings, in which the effect of such a high increase will be raised.
Social opinion regarding the plan is still sceptical, and people claim that a 60 per cent increase in the time of economic crisis cannot be well-grounded. Before seeking such a large increment, the residents have questioned JBVNL whether it has done sufficient work to minimize distribution losses, increase billing efficiency, and increase supply reliability.
JBVNL, on the other hand, asserts that infrastructure improvements, improved maintenance of the network, and service delivery can only be achieved by addressing the revenue gap. According to the company, revision of tariffs is the key to maintaining long-term improvement of the power supply system of the state.
JSERC has now been left with the final decision to make since it will analyze financial information, feedback, and service performance and then make the new tariff order. Up to that point, consumers in Jharkhand are in suspense whether their power bills will continue to increase significantly in the months to come.
