AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Thursday asked Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) and electricity providers to explain the hike in tariff that came into effect last month.

A bench of chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice J B Pardiwala issued notice to GERC, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd and four state electricity distribution companies in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) by Consumer & Education Research Society. CERS questioned GERC's decision to raise the tariff on June 1. The new tariff structure has been fixed for the year 2012-13.