In determining the retail supply tariff order for the financial year 2022-23, which will be effective from April 1, 2022, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has merged all the three existing groups in the domestic category into one with a telescopic billing system.
Under the system, lower slab consumption of the consumers will be billed at the corresponding lower slab tariffs, and the entire consumption will not be billed at a single slab in which it falls.
According to an official release from the Energy Department, if a consumer has a monthly consumption of 250 units, the first 30 units will be billed at ₹1.90 per unit, the next 45 units at ₹3 per unit, the next 50 units at ₹4.50, the next 100 units at ₹6, and the last 25 units at ₹8.75. Thus, the total bill will be ₹1,235.75.
The release has said that a section of the media is giving a false picture that a consumer with 250 units of monthly consumption will be billed for the entire consumption at a rate applicable to his tariff slab in the schedule, that is ₹8.75, resulting in a bill of ₹2,187.50, which is exorbitantly higher than the given actual billed amount.
It has been further clarified that only telescopic billing will be adopted as per the APERC’s directions in the tariff order.