Power bills higher during Congress term, claims govt

The Haryana Government today hit back at the Opposition, claiming that there is a reduction in power bills compared to when the Congress was in power in 2014-15.

The power tariff of various categories has been revised from April 2025. This is the first tariff hike since FY 2017-18, introduced after seven years, despite a consistent rise in power procurement costs and operational expenses, said  the government.

Over the past decade, from 2014-15 to 2024-25, AT&C (aggregate technical & commercial) losses have been reduced from 29% to 10%. As per the revised tariff structure, the minimum monthly charges (MMC) have been abolished for all categories of domestic consumers.

For Category-I domestic consumers (with a connected load of up to 2 kW and monthly consumption up to 100 units), there is a reduction in monthly bills—ranging from 49% to 75% compared with 2014-15. Compared with 2024-25 rates without MMC, the increase in bills is within 10%. However, when compared with the rates of previous tariff structure with MMC, the billed amount has decreased significantly, said the government.

For Category-II consumers (with a connected load of up to 5 kW), the increase in bills over 2024-25 ranges between 3% and 9%. However, in comparison with 2014-15, the majority of consumers in this category are experiencing a reduction in their bills, with only a few slabs seeing increases of less than 1%. Around 94% of the total domestic consumers fall under Categories I and II.

For Category-III consumers, the increase ranges from 5% to 7%. For lower consumption levels within this category, the percentage increase may seem higher. However, Category-III accounts for only about 6% of domestic consumers, the government said.

“Recently, some misleading claims have suggested that electricity bills have increased up to four times. These claims are not correct. Bills should be evaluated against the same month of the previous year, as this accounts for similar consumption patterns. The tariff increase has been minimal and moderate,” the government added.

For high tension (HT) consumers, the tariff revision from 2024-25 to 2025-26 reflects moderate increase in the range of 7% to 10%, based on load and consumption. In the low tension (LT) category, the increase is relatively moderate, ranging from 4% to 7% across various consumer segments.

Agricultural consumers will continue paying 10 paise/unit (metered) and Rs 15/BHP/month (unmetered), with the government subsidising the rest.

‘Protests part of opposition work’

“The job of the opposition parties is to speak, and they may do so, we welcome that. Protests are part of opposition work. But in the Assembly, we see they don’t even discuss things among themselves, and instead, bring hired people to protest — we have no objection to that.” — Anil Vij, Power Minister

Haryana Tribune