Amid the hypothesis of hike in the power tariff, the regulatory physique Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) on Wednesday introduced that there shall be “no tariff hike for 2026-27 across all categories” because it determined to preserve the tariff price unchanged for next monetary yr beginning April 01.
The choice will present a giant reduction to the 2.22 crore power consumers in Bihar.
The Commission rejected the proposal of each Discoms — North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd & South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd — for 35 paise tariff hike throughout classes in power fees.
A full fee comprising Chairman Amir Subhani and two members Parshuram Singh Yadav and Arun Kumar Sinha pronounced the tariff orders for monetary yr 2026-27 on a bunch of petitions filed by each the Discoms and different power corporations like transmission firm, Bihar Grid Company, SLDC and others.
“The proposal of DISCOMs for an increase in energy charges by 35 paise per unit across all categories of consumers is not accepted. There will be no hike in electricity tariff rate in the next financial year starting April 01,” Mr. Subhani advised reporters in the course of the press convention in Patna.
“The Commission after thorough examination and prudence check of their proposals has approved the net Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) of ₹16555.69 crore with revenue surplus of ₹2.69 crore for NBPDCL and net ARR of ₹18908.97 crore with revenue surplus of ₹1931.35 crore for SBPDCL after considering the revenue from approved sale of power in FY 2026-27 and trued up gap/surplus of FY 2024-25 including carrying cost,” it stated whereas citing the monetary place of the utilities and the necessity to keep away from burdening consumers.
The new tariff price will come into impact from April 1, 2026 and can stay in power until March 31, 2027 or the next tariff order of the Commission, it stated.
It has additionally applied a uniform tariff price for each city and rural home consumers, changing the sooner system of differentiated charges for completely different slabs.
The Commission has accepted the proposal of each Discoms to merge two slabs into single class for DS-II (city home consumers), NDS-I (rural industrial customers) & NDS-II consumers (city industrial consumers) and stored the power cost of current decrease slab which is able to consequence in an efficient discount of tariff (in phrases of power cost) by ₹1.53 per unit for DS-II (city home consumers), ₹0.42 per unit for NDS-I (rural industrial customers) and ₹1.20 per unit for NDS- II (city industrial consumers).
At current, DS-II consumers are charged in two slabs. For the primary 100 items, they’ve to pay ₹7.42 per unit and ₹8.95 per unit for over and above 100 items. Similarly, NDS-I consumers pay ₹7.79 per unit for upto 100 items whereas ₹8.21 per unit for over and above 100 items. NDS-II consumers pay Rs 7.73 per unit for the primary 100 items and ₹8.93 per unit for over and above 100 items.
But now, the 2 slabs have been merged right into a single class which is meant to make billing extra clear and simpler to perceive.
Mr. Subhani stated that the choice would profit round 27 lakh power consumers from the merger of slabs. He added that consumers will proceed to avail concessions/exemptions introduced in the present yr’s tariff price (2025-26).
The tariff charges introduced by the Commission don’t embrace the subsidy introduced by the state authorities yearly. The authorities is probably going to announce subsidy on electrical energy tariff charges for the next monetary yr of 2026-27 in the next few days.
The State authorities is giving 125 items of free electrical energy to 1.86 crore power consumers of the state. The free electrical energy is being supplied underneath Mukhya Mantri Vidyut Upbhokta Sahayta Yojana.
The choice to give subsidy based mostly free electrical energy of 125 items has saved ₹550 monthly to each city shopper whereas others consuming upto 125 items in rural areas is saving ₹306 monthly. The financial savings, a power shopper would make on account of free electrical energy, has been calculated on the idea of the electrical energy tariff price introduced for 2025-26 by BERC.
Published – March 19, 2026 08:11 am IST
