The hike in price of power is on an average 17 percent. However, the power tariff hike is likely to be below Rs 0.50 per unit as the State government will continue to subsidise the corporation.

Chairman of SERC Monaranjan Karmakar said today that the Tripura State Electricity Corporation had proposed a hike of 48.65 percent per unit. “The petition was processed by the Commission and a State advisory committee meeting was also held where details of the tariff were discussed among members and their views obtained. After due examination and scrutiny of the petition, the Commission has decided an average hike of Rs 0.69 per unit”, he said.

According to an estimate, the Corporation will be able to collect an additional Rs 40 crore per year due to the hike.

The corporation pointed out that the per unit cost of power had increased substantially after abrupt hike in gas price by the Central government, he said. “Besides, recurring expenditure has also gone up due to implementation of the new pay structure for the corporation’s employees,” he said.