Relief to 2.22 crore power consumers in Bihar, Regulatory Commission announces no tariff hike for next FY

Amid the speculation of hike in the power tariff, the regulatory body Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) on Wednesday announced that there will be “no tariff hike for 2026-27 across all categories” as it decided to keep the tariff rate unchanged for next financial year starting April 01.

The decision will provide a big relief to the 2.22 crore power consumers in Bihar.

The Commission rejected the proposal of both Discoms — North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd & South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd — for 35 paise tariff hike across categories in energy charges.

A full commission comprising Chairman Amir Subhani and two members Parshuram Singh Yadav and Arun Kumar Sinha pronounced the tariff orders for financial year 2026-27 on a bunch of petitions filed by both the Discoms and other power companies like transmission company, 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 told reporters during the press conference 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 said while citing the financial position of the utilities and the need to avoid burdening consumers.

The new tariff rate will come into effect from April 1, 2026 and will remain in force till March 31, 2027 or the next tariff order of the Commission, it said.

It has also implemented a uniform tariff rate for both urban and rural domestic consumers, replacing the earlier system of differentiated rates for different slabs.

The Commission has accepted the proposal of both Discoms to merge two slabs into single category for DS-II (urban domestic consumers), NDS-I (rural commercial users) & NDS-II consumers (urban commercial consumers) and kept the energy charge of existing lower slab which will result in an effective reduction of tariff (in terms of energy charge) by ₹1.53 per unit for DS-II (urban domestic consumers), ₹0.42 per unit for NDS-I (rural commercial users) and ₹1.20 per unit for NDS- II (urban commercial consumers). 

At present, DS-II consumers are charged in two slabs. For the first 100 units, they have to pay ₹7.42 per unit and ₹8.95 per unit for over and above 100 units. Similarly, NDS-I consumers pay ₹7.79 per unit for upto 100 units while ₹8.21 per unit for over and above 100 units. NDS-II consumers pay Rs 7.73 per unit for the first 100 units and ₹8.93 per unit for over and above 100 units. 

But now, the two slabs have been merged into a single category which is intended to make billing more transparent and easier to understand.

Mr. Subhani said that the decision would benefit around 27 lakh power consumers from the merger of slabs. He added that consumers will continue to avail concessions/exemptions announced in the current year’s tariff rate (2025-26).

The tariff rates announced by the Commission do not include the subsidy announced by the state government every year. The government is likely to announce subsidy on electricity tariff rates for the next financial year of 2026-27 in the next few days. 

The State government is giving 125 units of free electricity to 1.86 crore power consumers of the state. The free electricity is being provided under Mukhya Mantri Vidyut Upbhokta Sahayta Yojana. 

The decision to give subsidy based free electricity of 125 units has saved ₹550 per month to every urban consumer while others consuming upto 125 units in rural areas is saving ₹306 per month. The savings, a power consumer would make on account of free electricity, has been calculated on the basis of the electricity tariff rate announced for 2025-26 by BERC.