Coronavirus crisis: States announce electricity tariff cut, tax incentives to industrial consumers

From subsidised electricity to stimulus package, state governments have announced a slew of relief measures for the industries in wake of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic that has derailed the economy. The industry has been offered concessions, exemptions and extensions of electricity tariff to push economic activity amid the pandemic.

The Maharashtra government, which is facing one of its worst-ever public health crisis in the form of the coronavirus outbreak, has announced measures for industrial consumers. According to a CII report, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has announced a steep reduction in industrial power tariff in Maharashtra to prop up the struggling industry.

It issued a practice direction on March 26, whereby meter reading and physical bill distribution work was suspended and utilities were asked to issue bills on average usage basis till the current crisis gets subsided.

In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government has proposed that electricity billing of industrial and commercial consumers for April will be done on the basis of actual power consumption by them rather than on the basis of average consumption in the past three months, the report said.

Besides, fixed charges for March and April, taking into consideration the number of days of the lockdown, have been suspended for two months, the report said.

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Meanwhile, Rajasthan has deferred the fixed charges on electricity consumed by industrial establishments during March and April for which the bills will be issued in April and May, respectively, till 31 May 2020.  The state has also reduced fees for the hotel and restaurant bar licences to give relief to the tourism industry and hotel businesses. It has also approved reimbursement of SGST for these industries in the first quarter of the financial year.

In Himachal Pradesh, the state pollution control board, HPSPCB, has announced extension of validity period for consent for industries to operate under various categories up to 30 June 2020. The validity period of consent was due to expiry on 31 March.

Karnataka has notified certain category of industries as the "Continuous Process Industrial Units" and exempted them from the existing lockdown to prevent the damage to the plant/production machineries and to ensure industrial safety.

Also Read: Coronavirus lockdown: India is prepared for the "worst", says Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

Punjab has exempted fixed charges for medium supply and large supply industrial consumers for next 2 months from 23 March. While energy charges may be fixed to commensurate with reduction in fixed charges (single rate), revised energy charges will be paid by consumers and not to be considered for subsidy.

To augment the local manufacturing capacity of essential medical equipment and drugs and to implement a special incentive package to promote manufacturing, Tamil Nadu has announced a package that will be a combination of financial incentives and ease of starting business related facilitations. The package will apply to manufacture of ventilators, PPE kits, N-95 Masks, multi-para monitors and anti-malarial and anti-viral drugs used in the management of COVID-19.

Haryana has provided relief to the high tension and low tension consumers (industrial & non-domestic) by way of waiver in fixed charges having load of 20kW/kVA and above for March and April 2020, subject to the ceiling of Rs 10,000 per month.