Bhubaneswar, Jun 11 (IANS): In a major relief to power consumers, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Tuesday announced that there would be no power tariff hike during the 2019-20 financial year.

"Retail tariff for financial year 2019-20 remains unchanged since last year. Tariff order for FY 2019-20 is effective from June 1, 2019," an OERC statement said.

The power tariff will remain unchanged for domestic consumers and commercial and industrial units for FY 2019-20, the statement said.

The power tariff was also not hiked last year.

The notification regarding the tariff finalisation was kept in a sealed cover due to the model code of conduct (MCC) which was in place for the Lok Sabha elections.

In view of the MCC, the OERC was allowed to notify the latest tariff order only after the last date of polling in the state, it said.

The OERC also said that LT single phase consumer who has made full, timely payment of his energy bill for 12 months of the financial year will get extra rebate equal to his rebate for the month of March.

In order to promote digital payments, rebate for the same has gone up from 1 per cent to 2 per cent since last year.