Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) seeks feedback on a petition filed before the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) on a draft plan to pass on the benefits of electricity tariff rebates to the end consumers.

The stakeholders can submit their responses by October 12, 2020.

The UPCL noted that it had received a rebate of ₹391.4 million (~$5.3 million) from the central public sector generation and transmission companies. The state DISCOM said that fixed charges for low-tension (LT) industrial consumers for April 2020 had been billed based on the contracted load. The high-tension (HT) industrial consumers were billed on the maximum demand or 80% of the contracted load, whichever was higher. The UPCL noted that for April 2020, fixed charges amounting to ₹523.8 million ($7.09 million) had been billed. Further, fixed charges for April 2020 would be charged based on actual demand, which amounts to ₹244.8 million (~$3.32 million). Accordingly, UPCL would pass on a rebate amounting to ₹279 million (~$3.78 million) to the end consumers.

Further, UPCL pointed out that the fixed charges for commercial consumers for April 2020 had been billed based on the contracted load. The DISCOM had billed fixed charges amounting to ₹118.4 million (~$1.6 million) for April 2020. The UPCL proposed to waive off fixed charges for April 2020 and pass on a rebate of ₹118.4 million (~$1.6 million) to these consumers.

The state DISCOM further proposed that any excess or deficit in the rebates would be adjusted at the time of true-up exercise for FY 2020-21 by the Commission.

Notable, as fixed charges amounting to ₹391.4 million (~$5.3 million) would be waived off, the deferred amount of fixed charges would be reduced by ₹391.4 million (~$5.3 million), and UPCL would claim interest on the reduced amount of the deferred fixed charges.

Previously, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission announced rebates and incentives on power bills raised between March 24, 2020, to June 30, 2020. This rebate was announced considering the Coronavirus outbreak and the repercussions it has had on several services, including power supply. Then recently, it also reduced fixed charges by 50% for industrial and non-domestic consumers.