Tuesday 24 January 2017

A brief understanding of your Electricity bills


There are times when you start wondering why your electricity bills are increasing every month. It is of crucial importance to know how to save your electricity bills with the constant rise in Grid Tariffs. These tariffs are fixed by the KERC (Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission), and the tariffs are different for every consumer category.

As more people realize the need for a clean reliable source of energy and plan for long term savings, their First step is to understand their electricity bills. To help you to get an insight into your electricity bill, a simple info graphic is presented below.


BESCOM bill for a Residential User:


1.     Revenue Register Number: The RR Number is a Unique ID which identifies the Meter installed by BESCOM.

2.   Tariff Category: BESCOM have categorized different establishments under different categories and have assigned different electricity rates to each. To understand the Tariff rates click here. For residential consumers, the category is LT (Low Tension) 2 a (i) and for commercial comsumers, the category is LT (Low Tension) 3 a (i).

3.   Sanctioned Load: The maximum amount of load  demand from your househould when all the appliances are connected. Applying for the correct santioned load for your house is of crucial importance as it helps to avoid paying penalty for heavy load demand.

4.   Cumulative Readings: In order  to calculate the consumption, BESCOM stores your previous bill readings in their devices and calculated the difference between the current reading and previous reading to check your total consumption for a month and generate the bill.

5.  Consumption: The actual consumption of your household is given in bold and large numbers. The units of electricity is measured in Kilo-Watt Hours which is a measurement of energy. On these units you are charged based on the tariffs and slabs decided by KERC (Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission).  For large segments, the number of units is multiplied by a Constant which varies based on different loads.


The second half of the bill shows the fixed tariff rates for Residential users:



6.   Fixed Charges: This residential segment has a sanctioned load of 3 KW. KERC have fixed a nominal charge per KW of sanctioned load for a residential segment, as seen in the Fixed Charges box.

7.     Slab Rates: Residential users are charged under Slab Rates. Tariff Slab Rates are decided by the KERC and they are charged depending on the units consumed. The consumer has to be aware of such slabs, as exceeding his/her monthly consumption over 200 units, he/she  will be charged at a higher tariff of Rs 6.90, which increases your bill by a considerable amount.

8.  Final Amount: After adding Taxes, penalties,etc. fixed by the State Government, the final amount payable is printed.

It is crucial for any residential or commercial owner to understand this block as this helps you understand that by turning off devices at home when not needed, your bill might not fall into the higher paying slabs and thus reducing your overall bill cost. BESCOM are providing rebates to users who have installed Solar Heaters in their houses, so consumers can reap the benefits up to Rs.50 savings in their monthly electricity bills.

Understanding the different parts of the electricity bill above, can help you understand your electricity bill and also plan on reducing the electricity consumption for your home. By keeping a track of your units being consumed and your sanctioned load, you can save on your monthly electricity bills.

Next week, we talk about how rooftop solar PV plant can reduce your electricity bills and how you can gain long term financial savings…



29 comments:

  1. Nice summary . Interested in the next post ! It would be great to get some estimates on ave bill per sq feet for a solar enabled house vs non solar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Adarsh.. Stay tuned, next week we'll do exactly that comparison.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,
    How are the bills computed for people who live in gated apartments? Are there any differences?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Sindhuja, Thanks for enquiring.
      For people living in gated apartments, the bills are calculated the same way since you're also paying residential tariffs. (I'm assuming that you have a separate meter and monthly electricity bills from BESCOM).

      If not, you can write to me on sharath@solarify.in. I will help you understand how your bills work.

      Thanks
      Sharath

      Delete
  4. Great article Lot's of information to Read...Great Man Keep Posting and update to People..Thanks
    electricity rates

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Sharath,

    Kindly check your email.

    Thank you,
    Aishwarya

    ReplyDelete
  6. You mean fixed charges are to be paid per month? Also can you pls explain why is an arrear added to my bill?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sumit,
      Arrears are when some pending/due amount from previous month's bill. But best is to check with your local Escom office if you feel that it was not a justified amount.

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can you please tell me what is Credits and Adjustment i got -84 .

    ReplyDelete
  9. pl expalin me about RTC in the bescom bills

    ReplyDelete
  10. Is there any extra charges on electricity bill payment of BESCOM, if paid after one month

    ReplyDelete
  11. Really Great article Lot's of information to Read, Thanks for sharing.
    Pay Electricity Bill Online and Offline
    Bill Payment Online

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great info with detailed imagews. Thanks for the sharing!

    Have a look at Utility Bill Payment Services

    ReplyDelete
  13. thats clear cut much detailed info.
    keep doing this good work

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sir , Thank you for the info. In the bill it is written as - sansctioned load - 5 KW - this means how many units I can consume in a months max ? after which I will be -paying penalty?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Vijayakumar,

      If your sanctioned load is 5 kW, then the max simultaneous load can be 5 kW at any given time. You can use as many units you want. There is no penalty for that, just pay per unit.

      There is no minimum load factor. Max load should be 5 kW for you.

      Delete
  15. what shouldbe the min load factor

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  16. Is there any proof for penalty on low power factor for households?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi, Can you please explain the LT3 bill used for commercial purpose. I have a LT3 connection with 20KW sanctioned load. In the bill the reading( prev-curr reading) is multiplied by constant value of 10. I want to know what is this constant value in the bill? I have a friend who has same LT3 with 17 KW sanctioned load and his bill has a constant value of 1. I'm getting high bill due to this constant value. Please help

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  18. Just wanted to understand are the fixed charges payable even if the electricity consumption is Zero.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Great article Lot's of information to Read...Great Man Keep Posting and update to People..Thanks
    https://www.softcareinfotech.in/electricitybillapi.html

    ReplyDelete
  20. Nice it seems to be good post... It will get readers engagement on the article since readers engagement plays an vital role in every blog.. i am expecting more updated posts from your hands.
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    ReplyDelete
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