The Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has announced new power tariffs for the year 2011-12 with an average increase of five percent for the consumers in the hill state.

Under the new tariff order all consumers including domestic, non-domestic and industries would have to pay only five percent more.

The commission has restricted the tariff hike to only 5.74 percent against the demand of 31 per cent hike by the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), the sole power distribution licensee.

Energy charges for domestic consumers for the first 100 units would be increased by Rs 0.05 per unit, for 100-200 units the tariff would increase by Rs 0.10 per unit and for 201 and above units, the tariff would increase by Rs 0.20 per unit, UERC officials said today.

The fixed charges for all these three categories have been increased to Rs 25 from Rs 20.

The UERC has also introduced fixed charges of Rs 5 per month for BPL consumers in snowbound areas.

No extra burden has been put on industries, for the first time, as the average increase is five percent for both LT and HT ones.