Chandigarh, July 16 -- Five months after taking over the UT electricity department, Chandigarh Power Distribution Limited (CPDL) has submitted a petition to the joint electricity regulatory commission (JERC), seeking a hike in electricity tariffs for the financial year 2025-26 under the multi-year tariff (MYT) framework. The JERC will fix the tariff for the private sector operator, as is being done for the government department, and will hold a public hearing on July 25, at the Art and Museum Gallery Hall, Sector 10, before revising the tariff. The power supply operations in the city were officially handed over to CPDL, a private entity, by the UT administration on February 1, 2025. The tariff hike proposal is the first such move by the CPDL since taking charge. In its petition, the firm cited a projected revenue gap of Rs.81 crore. It estimated a total requirement of Rs.1,157 crore to meet its operational and supply costs for FY 2025-26. However, under the current tariff structure, expected revenue from retail sales stands at Rs.1,075 crore - leaving a shortfall of Rs.81 crore. To bridge this gap, CPDL has proposed a revised slab-wise tariff structure and increased fixed charges. For domestic consumers, the fixed charge is proposed at Rs.32.64, while for non-domestic users, it is Rs.45.81. The company has also suggested restructuring the existing three-slab domestic tariff system into five slabs, with unit blocks of 100 each. As per the existing system, the rate for the first 150 units is Rs.2.75 per unit, Rs.4.8 per unit for 151-400 units and Rs.4.9 per unit for 400 and above. If the firm's proposal is accepted, where the rate for the first 100 units is set at Rs.2.96 per unit, Rs.4.04/unit for the next slab, a household consuming 500 units a month will see their bills rising by Rs.166 - from the current Rs.2,182 to Rs.2,348. Last year in July, the JERC increased the power tariff by 9.40 % and was applicable from August 1. As per the data, the city has a total of 2,34,269 consumers, including 2,01,435 domestic-LT, 26,559 commercial-LT, 493 commercial HT, 95 large industry supply, 1,488 medium industry supply, 1,538 small industry, 121 agriculture, and 1,551 public lighting, etc. The department has stated that the total number of consumers will increase to 2,38,255 in the financial year 2024-25....