TNEB Tariff 2026: What a Home Pays Per Unit in Each Slab
Published · Updated · Reviewed by Karthikeyan E
The rate printed in the tariff order is not the rate on your EB bill. TNERC, the state regulator, approves one figure. The Tamil Nadu government then pays a part of it for every home. What is left is what you pay.
Most pages on TNEB tariff mix the two figures up. We read the three orders in force, TNERC Order No. 6 of 2025 and Orders No. 4 and 5 of 2026, and kept them apart. Each one is linked at the end, with the page number, so you can check any figure here against the source.
The short answer
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How often is a home billed? | Once in two months. |
| How many units are free? | 200, if the two-month bill is 500 units or less. 100, if it is above 500. |
| What is the lowest paid rate? | Rs 4.70 a unit. |
| What is the highest? | Rs 11.55 a unit, above 1,000 units. |
| Is there a fixed charge? | No. It is nil for homes. |
| Since when? | Rates from 1 July 2025. The 200 free units from 10 May 2026. |
In one line, what a home pays per unit in 2026: the first 200 units are free on a bill of up to 500 units (100 free above that), then Rs 4.70 up to 400 units, Rs 6.30 up to 500, Rs 8.40 up to 600, Rs 9.45 up to 800, Rs 10.50 up to 1,000 and Rs 11.55 beyond.
TNEB slab rates 2026: what you pay per unit
First find your total units for the two months. That total decides which of the two tables below is yours.
Bills of 500 units or less
| Units in two months | Approved rate | Government pays | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 200 | Rs 4.95 | Rs 4.95 | Free |
| 201 to 400 | Rs 4.95 | Re 0.25 | Rs 4.70 |
| 401 to 500 | Rs 6.65 | Re 0.35 | Rs 6.30 |
Bills above 500 units
| Units in two months | Approved rate | Government pays | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 100 | Rs 4.95 | Rs 4.95 | Free |
| 101 to 400 | Rs 4.95 | Re 0.25 | Rs 4.70 |
| 401 to 500 | Rs 6.65 | Re 0.35 | Rs 6.30 |
| 501 to 600 | Rs 8.80 | Re 0.40 | Rs 8.40 |
| 601 to 800 | Rs 9.95 | Re 0.50 | Rs 9.45 |
| 801 to 1,000 | Rs 11.05 | Re 0.55 | Rs 10.50 |
| Above 1,000 | Rs 12.15 | Re 0.60 | Rs 11.55 |
Each rate applies only to the units inside its own slab. A home that used 640 units does not pay Rs 9.45 on all 640. It pays that on the last 40.
EB bill chart 2026: 100 to 2,000 units
These are energy charges for two months, worked out from the tables above.
| Units used | Energy charge | Average per unit |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | Rs 0 | Free |
| 200 | Rs 0 | Free |
| 300 | Rs 470 | Rs 1.57 |
| 400 | Rs 940 | Rs 2.35 |
| 500 | Rs 1,570 | Rs 3.14 |
| 501 | Rs 2,048 | Rs 4.09 |
| 600 | Rs 2,880 | Rs 4.80 |
| 700 | Rs 3,825 | Rs 5.46 |
| 800 | Rs 4,770 | Rs 5.96 |
| 1,000 | Rs 6,870 | Rs 6.87 |
| 1,200 | Rs 9,180 | Rs 7.65 |
| 1,500 | Rs 12,645 | Rs 8.43 |
| 2,000 | Rs 18,420 | Rs 9.21 |
The order says electricity tax, where the government levies it, is added on top of these rates. Your bill may also carry arrears or a deposit. Those are not part of the tariff.
The 500-unit line
Look at the two rows in the middle of that table. At 500 units the charge is Rs 1,570. At 501 it is Rs 2,048. One extra unit costs Rs 478.
The reason is the free units. Cross 500 and they drop from 200 to 100. So 100 units that were free are now charged at Rs 4.70, which is Rs 470. The 501st unit adds Rs 8.40.
If your home usually lands between 480 and 520 units, note the meter reading a week before the billing date. Putting off a few loads of washing or some hours of AC can keep you under the line.
How to calculate your own EB bill
- Take the present reading and subtract the previous one. Both are printed on the bill. That is your units for two months.
- If the figure is 500 or less, use the first table. If it is more, use the second.
- Multiply the units in each slab by the rate for that slab.
- Add the amounts.
Example, 640 units: the first 100 are free. The next 300 at Rs 4.70 come to Rs 1,410. The next 100 at Rs 6.30 come to Rs 630. The next 100 at Rs 8.40 come to Rs 840. The last 40 at Rs 9.45 come to Rs 378. Total, Rs 3,258.
What changed, and when
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 9 September 2022 | TNERC Order No. 7 of 2022 set a five-year plan. Rates are revised every 1 July in line with consumer prices, by 6% at most. |
| 1 July 2025 | Order No. 6 of 2025 raised approved domestic rates to between Rs 4.95 and Rs 12.15. The government chose to pay the increase for homes, so bills did not change. |
| 10 May 2026 | G.O. (Ms) No. 50 raised free units from 100 to 200 for homes that use up to 500 units in two months. |
| 26 May 2026 | TNERC Order No. 5 of 2026 approved Rs 1,545.14 crore as subsidy to cover the extra free units until 31 March 2027. |
| 1 July 2026 | The next yearly revision was due. No order for it was on the TNERC list when we checked on 30 September 2026. |
Old vs new TNEB tariff 2026: before and after 10 May 2026
The only change on a home bill in 2026 came on 10 May, when the free units went from 100 to 200 for bills of up to 500 units. The paid rates did not move. Here is the same slab table before and after that date.
| Units in two months (bill up to 500) | You paid before 10 May 2026 | You pay from 10 May 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 100 | Free | Free | None |
| 101 to 200 | Rs 2.35 | Free | Now free |
| 201 to 400 | Rs 4.70 | Rs 4.70 | None |
| 401 to 500 | Rs 6.30 | Rs 6.30 | None |
Bills above 500 units did not change at all: the first 100 units are free and the rest are charged from Rs 4.70 to Rs 11.55 slab by slab, as in the second table above.
| Units used | Old bill | New bill | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | Rs 235 | Rs 0 | Rs 235 |
| 220 | Rs 329 | Rs 94 | Rs 235 |
| 300 | Rs 705 | Rs 470 | Rs 235 |
| 400 | Rs 1,175 | Rs 940 | Rs 235 |
| 500 | Rs 1,805 | Rs 1,570 | Rs 235 |
| 501 | Rs 2,048 | Rs 2,048 | Rs 0 |
| 600 | Rs 2,880 | Rs 2,880 | Rs 0 |
The saving is the same Rs 235 on every bill between 200 and 500 units, because it is always the same 100 units that stopped being charged at Rs 2.35.
The approved rates did go up on 1 July 2025, under Order No. 6 of 2025: 0 to 400 units from Rs 4.80 to Rs 4.95, 401 to 500 from Rs 6.45 to Rs 6.65, 501 to 600 from Rs 8.55 to Rs 8.80, 601 to 800 from Rs 9.65 to Rs 9.95, 801 to 1,000 from Rs 10.70 to Rs 11.05, and above 1,000 from Rs 11.80 to Rs 12.15 (page 14 of the order). The state government pays that increase for every home, so the rate printed on the bill stayed where it was. Some pages call this the old and new tariff; it changed the subsidy bill, not yours.
Claims you may have read elsewhere
No TNERC order in 2026 raised the rate a home pays. Orders No. 4 and 5 of 2026 are subsidy orders. There was no April 2026 tariff hike, and the yearly revision due on 1 July 2026 had no order on the TNERC list when we checked on 30 September 2026.
Your bill is for two months. The order prints each slab both ways, monthly and for two months, so check which column a page is quoting before you compare it with your bill.
100 free units is the old rule for bills of up to 500 units. Since 10 May 2026 it is 200. Above 500 units it was, and still is, 100.
Rs 8.55, Rs 9.65, Rs 10.70 and Rs 11.80 are the approved rates from before July 2025. They are not the 2026 rates, and no home has paid them in any year.
On a bill above 500 units, units 101 to 400 are charged at Rs 4.70. There is no Rs 2.35 slab on such a bill.
Shops, offices and small industries
These are the approved rates in Order No. 6 of 2025. Businesses also pay a fixed charge on the sanctioned load, which homes do not.
| Connection | Energy charge per unit | Fixed charge |
|---|---|---|
| Shops, offices, clinics and other general use (LT V) | Rs 6.65 if the two-month use is 100 units or less. Rs 10.45 on every unit if it is more. | Rs 110 per kW a month, up to 50 kW |
| Small industries and IT services (LT III-B) | Rs 8.25 | Rs 84 per kW a month, up to 50 kW |
| Cottage and micro units up to 12 kW (LT III-A 1) | Rs 4.95 up to 500 units in two months. Rs 7.15 above that. | Rs 77 per kW a month |
| Lift, pump and common lighting in apartments (LT I-D) | Rs 8.80 | Rs 110 per kW a month |
| HT industries (HT I) | Rs 7.50 | Rs 608 per kVA a month |
| HT commercial (HT III) | Rs 9.40 | Rs 608 per kVA a month |
HT consumers pay 25% more on units used from 6 am to 10 am and from 6 pm to 10 pm. Units used between 10 pm and 5 am get 5% off.
From 1 July 2025 the government held some of these at the older, lower rates for one year. That covered shops up to 500 units, industries up to 50 kW, and cottage units. The year ended on 30 June 2026 and we found no order extending it. Check the rate on your latest bill.
Where rooftop solar fits
We install rooftop systems, so you would expect us to say every home needs one. The slab table says otherwise.
If your home uses under 200 units in two months, your energy charge is already zero. Panels cannot bring it lower. Between 200 and 500 units you pay Rs 4.70 to Rs 6.30 a unit, and the payback is slow. Above 500 units the sums change, because each unit your roof makes replaces a unit from the costliest slab on your bill.
Example: a home that uses 800 units pays Rs 4,770. A 2 kW system in Coimbatore gives about 5.5 units a day for each kilowatt, or close to 660 units in 60 days. Under net metering the bill is raised on what is left, about 140 units. On the table above, that falls inside the free 200. A network charge of about Rs 185 for the two months still applies.
A shop on LT V pays Rs 10.45 for a unit from the grid and earns Rs 3.61 for a unit it exports. So a business system should be sized to what the shop uses in the daytime. The rules for both cases are in our guide to how exported units are credited in Tamil Nadu.
To see what size suits your bill, enter your units in the calculator. The central and state subsidy amounts are on a separate page.
A home that uses 200 to 400 units a billing cycle has a smaller case for solar. The sums for that size are in solar for small homes, and how the bill changes after installation shows a before-and-after.
Questions people ask
Are TNEB, TANGEDCO and TNPDCL the same thing?
For your bill, yes. TNEB is the old board's name. TANGEDCO ran distribution after that. The 2025 tariff order is issued to TNPDCL, the company that supplies and bills power now. The rates do not change with the name.
I used 520 units. Do I still get 200 free units?
No. The 200 free units are for bills of 500 units or less in two months. Above 500, the first 100 units are free and the rest are charged slab by slab.
Is there a fixed charge for a house?
No. The tariff order shows the fixed charge for the domestic category as nil. You pay only for the units.
Is the bill monthly or once in two months?
Homes are billed once in two months. The order prints every slab both ways, so 0 to 200 units a month is the same slab as 0 to 400 units in two months.
Can one house have two domestic connections?
The order allows one domestic connection for each dwelling unit. A separate floor with its own kitchen and its own wiring counts as a dwelling unit. Extra connections in the same unit are moved to a costlier tariff.
Will the rates go up in 2026-27?
A yearly revision linked to consumer prices, capped at 6%, was due from 1 July 2026. When we checked the TNERC tariff orders page on 30 September 2026, no order for it was listed.
Has the TNEB tariff changed in 2026?
For homes, only the free units changed: 100 became 200 for bills of up to 500 units, from 10 May 2026. The paid slab rates on the bill are the same as before. The yearly revision due on 1 July 2026 had no order on the TNERC list when we checked on 30 September 2026.
Which TNERC tariff order applies in 2026?
Order No. 6 of 2025 sets the approved rates from 1 July 2025. Order No. 4 of 2026 fixes what the consumer pays after the government subsidy, and Order No. 5 of 2026 approves the subsidy for the 200 free units. All three are linked under Sources.
Sources and disclaimer
- TNERC Order No. 6 of 2025, dated 30 June 2025. Domestic rates are on page 34, LT V on page 48.
- TNPDCL copy of Order No. 6 of 2025. Same order on the TNPDCL site; use it if the TNERC link shows a certificate warning.
- TNERC Order No. 4 of 2026, dated 27 April 2026. The rate payable by the consumer is on pages 7 to 9.
- TNERC Order No. 5 of 2026, dated 26 May 2026. This covers the 200 free units.
- TNERC list of tariff orders
Figures were checked against these orders on 30 September 2026. RK Solar Solutions is an installer and not a government agency. TNERC and the state government can change rates and subsidy at any time. For a disputed bill, go by the rate printed on the bill and ask your section office.
Is your bill above 500 units most cycles? Send us your last two bills and we will tell you, in writing, what a rooftop system would and would not save.