Pay less if you consume more electricity

Though you might be reading this while suffering a power cut in your area, India has evolved as country producing surplus power. And to encourage people to consume more electricity, the government is introducing a brand new tariff structure that would offer incentives to high power consumptions. So more you consume, the less you pay.

"The present tariff structure has been designed for power shortage scenario in states and has not been changed since Independence. Since India has excess electricity generation capacity now, the existing framework needs to be changed to address the capacity generation glut,” a member of the committee constituted by the power ministry in September last year to suggest innovative schemes for raising power demand told The Economic Times.

The committee has the chairman of the Central Electricity Authority, secretary of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), president of industry body Ficci, energy secretaries of Bihar and Tamil Nadu and principal energy secretaries of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh in it. The committee is in the process of finalising its report and is likely to present it to the power ministry by January-end.

Presently, consumers are penalised by way of higher tariffs for higher consumption.

The committee also opines in the draft report that more states can offer power at lower rates to industries during night and off-peak hours. Such system of differential tariff is in place in some states and Madhya Pradesh has seen increase in power consumption. The committee has also explored other short term and long term options for enhancing power consumption.

(Image: India Times)