Steep hike in cooking gas price for non-subsidised domestic consumers

Consumers who buy non-subsidised domestic cylinders will now have pay ₹881 per refill, an increase of ₹147 over the previous rate

The price of cooking gas has shot up by ₹147 for the 14.2 kg non-subsidised domestic cylinder in the city. This is a quantum jump, considering the previous monthly revision on January 1 was only ₹20 per refill and the previous month, the price had been increased by ₹18.

Every month the price of domestic and commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is revised on the first day. This time, the government waited for results of the Delhi Assembly elections before announcing the new price, sources said.

Consumers who have already booked cylinders but are yet to get them will have to pay the new rate of ₹881 per refill, which is the price for non-subsidised domestic cylinders. The subsidised rate per cylinder will be ₹555.24 and the subsidy component of ₹325 will be transferred to the consumer’s account after the payment is made. In effect, customers who get subsidised cylinders will have pay an additional ₹7 from last month’s prices with the government including the hike in the subsidy component.

If customers have made payments online, they will have to pay the difference in price to the gas delivery personnel. This is because the distributors will be paying the revised rates for cylinders to the company. Fresh bills will be generated for these bookings, said a distributor.

“Such a steep hike should not have been passed on to non-subsidised consumers. Also, those who have paid online should be given the option of paying the difference too online instead of giving it to the delivery person,” said consumer activist T. Sadagopan.

There are around 60 lakh domestic LPG consumers in Chennai region who get gas refills from the State-run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

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