The Hindu Business Line : Time-of-day power tariffs on the anvil

CONSUMERS in most States could soon end up paying different electricity tariffs during different hours of the day. Various State Electricity Regulatory Commissions have decided to work overtime to usher in `time-of-day' tariffs.

In a meeting today, the Forum of Indian Regulators (FOIR) - a statutory body comprising Central and State power regulators - discussed the issue of introducing time-of-day tariffs across various consumer categories, starting with industrial and commercial consumers.

The meeting also took stock of a host of other issues including the progress made by the regulatory establishment in facilitating open access in power distribution and regulating the growing power trading business, Government officials said.

Time-of-day electricity tariffs entail differential tariffs for peak and non-peak hours, with consumers needing to shell out a premium for the electricity consumed during certain designated peak hours.

"The view among most State power regulators has been in favour of starting with introducing time-of-day power tariffs for industrial and bulk consumers, and then implement it to other consumer categories," a Government official said.

Some States, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, have already taken the first step towards introducing differential tariffs across the day by installing special time-of-day meters for bulk consumers.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) is also working on collating category-wise hourly consumption pattern data as a first step towards the system.

According to industry sources, MERC has asked service providers Reliance Energy and Tata Power to install time-of-day meters for its high tension industrial and commercial consumers, following which the low tension Industrial and Commercial categories would be targeted.

The Tamil Nadu Government is also reportedly working on installing meters for high tension industrial consumers, who would be billed about 20 per cent higher on the energy consumed during peak hours spanning three hours during both mornings and evenings.

The Kerala State Electricity Board has taken steps to adopt a differential pricing system to bill high tension consumers using these meters.

FOIR has been set up for better co-ordination and uniformity in approach among the various power regulatory establishments in the country. The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, also attended today's FOIR meeting.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page