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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

New electricity tariff will be applied gradually, says top official

PowerLines
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Muscat: The new electricity consumption bill has not been rescinded, but it will be applied in a phased manner. Generally, the January bill includes the approved tariff as per the regulations published in December which involves the gradual application of the new tariff over the year.


This was stated by Qais bin Saud al Zakwani, Executive Director, Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR).


He said that the approved tariff for the first group is 15 baisas, which will be applied gradually over the year starting with 11 baisas in the first month for electricity consumption up to 2,000 kilowatts. He added the mechanism for the gradual application of the new tariff is the purview of the National Subsidy System Committee.


It has been rumoured that the new electricity tariff has been revoked as its was supposed to be enforced in January as per the subsidy reorientation regulation issued by the APSR. January bill was calculated based on 11 baisas instead of 15 baisas for consumption up to 2,000 kilowatts, and 14 baisas instead of 20 baisas for electricity consumption up to 4,000 kilowatts. The bill for electricity consumption above 4,000 kilowatts will be 22 baisas instead of 30 baisas, the official said, adding that the new tariff will be applied gradually.


NEW TARIFF STRUCTURE


The new tariff structure includes the following categories: Big consumers category that includes all subscribers of all the categories except the residential category who consume 100 megawatts per hour in a year or more, and the cost-reflective tariff (CRT) is applied to all subscribers in this category.


Second is the non-residential consumption category. It includes all the subscribers’ categories (industrial, commercial, government, and tourism) to be merged from a single tariff.


Also, the tariff for agricultural and fishery activities has been modified and will continue to be applied as a special tariff for these two sectors.


The third is the residential consumption category. In this category, the tariff was divided into the citizen’s account tariff, the resident’s account tariff, and additional accounts. The citizen’s account tariff will be applied to accounts registered with the names of citizens, not exceeding two accounts per citizen, and the resident’s account tariff and additional accounts will be applied to registered accounts with the names of residents.


By Zakaria Fikri


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