Bhubaneswar, Sep 30 (IANS): Odisha on Wednesday increased the electricity duty rate by 1 percent for the industry to obtain additional revenue of about Rs.250 crore annually.

The state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik revised the Odisha Electricity Duty (ED) rates.

The state government, however, decided to maintain status quo in the domestic and agriculture sector, said chief secretary G.C. Pati.

"While the cabinet has approved one percent hike for industry sector, there will be no hike in the duty rates for irrigation and domestic consumers," said the chief secretary.

He said it would not only provide electricity access to all but also improve quality and reliability of supply.

Justifying the hike, Pati said the ED rates are much higher in other states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Jharkhand than Odisha.

The rate has been revised from 20 paise per unit to 30 paise per unit, he said.

It has also been decided that for the benefit of consumers using small generators, the limit of capacity of generators attracting levy of ED has been raised from 10 KVA to 50 KVA.