Energy Pricing and Tariffs Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: 2800

Work through the blocks in turn: \[ 100 \times 4 = 400, \quad 200 \times 6 = 1200, \quad 150 \times 8 = 1200, \] \[ \text{total} = 2800. \] The 450 units fall into all three blocks, the last block taking the 150 units beyond 300. Charging all 450 at the highest rate gives 3600, which is the commonest error with a block tariff.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 8

The marginal price is the rate in the block the next unit would fall into, and at 450 units the consumer is already beyond 300, so the next unit costs 8. It is quite different from the average price, which is \( 2800/450 = 6.22 \) - and it is the marginal price that governs whether a further unit is worth consuming.

Answer: C

Correct answer: 1.50 per unit paid by that category

The category pays 8.50 against an average cost of supply of 7.00, so it contributes \( 8.50 - 7.00 = 1.50 \) per unit above what it costs to serve. That surplus subsidises categories charged below cost, typically agricultural and small domestic consumers. The direction matters: this category pays the subsidy rather than receiving it.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 400 kWh

Of the 1400 kWh consumed, 700 came from the rooftop plant directly, so 700 was imported. The plant generated 1000 and 700 was used on site, so 300 was exported. Net metering bills the difference: \[ 700 - 300 = 400\ \mathrm{kWh}. \] Under gross metering instead, the whole 1000 would be sold to the licensee and the whole 1400 bought back.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 42 000

The excess is charged at twice the ordinary demand rate: \[ 60 \times (2 \times 350) = 60 \times 700 = 42\,000. \] Only the 60 kVA above contract attracts the penal rate; the 500 kVA within contract is billed at the ordinary 350. Applying the penal rate to the whole demand would give 3.5 lakh and is not what the clause provides.

Answer: B

Each component of a bill answers to a different cost, and knowing which is which tells the consumer which measure reduces it. Cutting units does nothing to a demand charge and cutting the peak does little to an energy charge.

Answer: C

Correct answer: 1-Q, 2-R, 3-P

Three tariff forms with three distinct structures. A flat rate charges one price for every unit however many are taken. A telescopic tariff is a declining block form, the rate falling with each successive block. And the Hopkinson tariff is the two-part form, a demand charge plus an energy charge.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 4, 3, 1, 2

Each step depends on the one before. Project the year’s sales and costs first, since nothing can be computed without them. From those derive the annual revenue requirement, the total the utility must recover. Allocate that requirement among the consumer categories according to the cost of serving each and whatever subsidy policy applies. Only then can the schedule be published.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only are correct

Statements 1 and 2 are correct: the demand charge depends on capacity rather than consumption, and kVAh billing penalises a poor power factor without any separate clause. Statement 3 inverts the telescopic tariff, in which the rate falls with each block; it is the inclining block tariff used for domestic supply in which the rate rises.

Answer: B

Correct answer: raising the connected load while keeping demand unchanged

Under a two-part tariff the bill depends on maximum demand and units consumed, and the connected load enters neither, so adding connected capacity that is never used changes nothing. The other three all reduce the bill: a lower contract demand cuts the ratchet floor, a better power factor cuts the kVA demand, and off-peak shifting cuts the energy rate.