The consumers are the only sufferers,' said property dealer Jagbir Singh of Zirakpur town near Chandigarh.

The Punjab government has been accused of over-drawing power from its quota from other states and grids in the run-up to assembly by-election last month. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal won by over 80,000 votes in the Jalalabad assembly by-election.

In a state where the government subsidizes power to farmers, the maximum increase in tariff has been seen in agriculture sector.

Electricity tariff in this sector has increased by up to 18.75 percent. As a result, the state government will have to subsidize power to farmers at the rate of Rs.2.85 per unit instead of Rs.2.40 earlier.

Electricity tariff in small and medium scale industry has increased by 9.4 and 9.6 percent, respectively, while that for large industries has been hiked 9.6 percent from Rs.3.95 per unit to Rs.4.33.