It will be a happy new year for Bengalureans and other neighbouring districts as far as their power bill is considered as electricity charges are likely to get slashed starting from January, 2020.
A recent order by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has said that Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has to slash its Fuel Adjustment Charges (FAC) by more than 50%. This order will be valid from January to March. The previous FAC component was 29p/unit while now it has been made to 12 p/unit.
BESCOM facilitates electricity supply in eight districts of Karnataka – Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura, Kolar, Davanagere, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Ramanagara.
Similar reductions have been made for areas served by other state-owned utility companies including in Mangaluru (4p/unit), Gulbarga (6p/unit) among others,
The order states, “In accordance with the provisions of the KERC (Fuel Cost Adjustment Charges) Regulations, 2013 and amendments thereon, the Commission,
having recognized the increase in fuel cost adjustment charges along with the increase In overall power purchase cost during the second quarter of FY20, decides to allow the ESCOMs to collect fuel cost adjustment charges per unit of sales, in all the energy bills, to be issued
to their consumers, during the billing quarter from 1 January, 2020 to 31 March, 2020, at the following rates”
Previously in May 2019 a hike of 33 paise per unit
in electricity prices were announced by Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM). It meant expenses towards electricity for households increased by 5% on average for domestic users.
Bescom had sought a hike of Rs 1.01 per unit but this was faced with a lot of public opposition. There was also outrage about the frequent power outages affecting the city. During public hearing meetings, BESCOM officials maintained that a hike was necessary to keep up with purchase and transmission costs.