Power users in South pay Rs 9/unit more than in North

Electricity consumers in the South are paying almost Rs 9 more per unit than their counterparts in the North, who pay about Rs 3 a unit.

This is because of the congestion rent, say the power exchanges. Consumers in the southern region are badly affected as this is much higher than the marginal cost of generating and transmitting electricity in other regions.

Congestion rent is the difference between the prices in the buyer (deficit) and seller (surplus) regions multiplied by flow from the surplus region to deficit region in megawatts.

This rent is collected by Power Operation System Co Ltd on behalf of CERC and deposited in a special fund.