Indian industries among one of the highest power tariffs payers
It is reported that despite poor power supply conditions, Indian industries are paying one of the highest electricity tariffs in the world. As per government data for 2006, industrial consumers in India, across various slabs in different states, pay an average of INR 4.50 per unit, with the industrial tariff slabs as high as INR 8.04 per unit.
But, according to data sourced from the International Energy Agency for 2006, industrial consumers paid out tariffs of INR 2.25 per unit in the US, INR 1.98 per unit in France, INR 2.10 in Chinese Taipei and INR 4.11 in the UK. However, in Japan, industrial tariffs are comparably higher at INR 5.21 per unit. Although domestic tariffs in India, which ranged between INR 1.14 and INR 5.16 per unit for households across various states, are comparable to tariffs in most of these countries.
| Country |
Industrial |
Domestic |
| US |
2.25 |
3.94 |
| Chinese Taipei |
2.10 |
2.83 |
| Japan |
5.21 |
8.05 |
| France |
1.98 |
5.59 |
| UK |
4.11 |
6.47 |
| India |
4.50 |
5.16 |
INR per unit
Source: International Energy Agency
India, however, stands out as an exception with industrial electricity tariffs much higher than domestic rates but the poor quality of supply is an added problem in the Indian context.
An earlier Emerson Network Power study had indicated that India Inc could be losing over INR 22,000 crore in direct losses due to poor power quality and operating environment related downtime estimated to be around 2.2% of the gross output of the total industrial and service sectors. Though India's power generation cost is comparable to those in several developed countries, industrial tariffs are comparatively much higher on account of cross subsidization of agriculture and domestic sectors and high aggregate technical and commercial losses. Besides, electricity duty, which varies widely from state to state, also creates additional burden for the industrial consumers.
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