The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) has approved a proposal by the Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) to increase the prices of electricity in the state by about seven per cent.

The former Bihar State Electricity Board, which is now Bihar State Power Holding Company was asking for the permission to increase tariffs by a huge 58.4 per cent in order to increase the fill the gap in revenue. On an average, the BERC has approved an increase of 6.9 per cent over the existing charges.

The average increase for all urban domestic consumers across the state would be 9 per cent while that for the rural domestic consumers would be about 9.5 per cent and the commercial establishments will see their electricity bill rise by 9.7 per cent. The fixed tariffs would be allowed to be increased slightly.

BERC chairman Umesh Narayan Panjiar on Friday said, "We have increased the rates moderately and it would fetch additional revenue of Rs 241.18 crore to the BSPHCL. It is an attempt to protect the revenue interests of BSPHCL and also ensure that consumers are not subjected to high tariff escalation. No changes in the tariff structure, miscellaneous charges, terms and conditions have been done."

BERC held public meetings at at Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Munger, Bhagalpur, Purnia, Saharsa, Chapra, Gaya and Patna and discussed the increase with generation, transmission and distribution companies before approving the proposal to increase the prices.