The UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has announced that people in the state will have to pay 1.24% more electricity bills in April as a fuel surcharge for January. The department has also made changes to the billing software. This revised charge is expected to impact approximately 3.45 crore electricity consumers across the state.
“The surcharge stems from the revised multi-year tariff distribution regulation 2025, which now allows for a monthly fuel and power purchase adjustment surcharge (FPPAS) to be recovered from consumers till 2029,” HT quoted sources as saying.
The fuel surcharge for January, amounting to Rs 78.99 crore, will be recovered from consumers via their April electricity bills.
UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman Awadhesh Kumar Verma took to X (formerly Twitter) and criticised the new rates. “All electricity consumers in the state will see a 1.24% increase in the electricity bills they paid in the month of April, and those who pay in the future will also see this increase. This system has been quietly implemented in the software. As soon as privatisation began, the increase in rates started.”
He added, “In Uttar Pradesh, electricity consumers are facing a surplus of 33,122 crores, so an increase in the form of fuel surcharge should not be legally implemented; only a reduction should be applied. However, despite this, this system was quietly implemented in the month of April,” terming the change as the “black law of the regulatory commission”.
Verma also said that the Consumer Council went to the Electricity Regulatory Commission to complain and raise the demand for issuing directives that electricity bills for people using solar panels were not properly adjusted in April.
“The Consumer Council also raised the issue in its opposition proposal in the Electricity Regulatory Commission that the Commission should not consider any draft proposal in the form of privatisation in the future from a consultant company that submits false affidavits, and an order should also be issued in this regard. This is the first serious case in the country,” he went on to say.
The three key directors from Finance, IT, and Distribution who are on the committee evaluating privatisation tenders will have their terms ending in May-June. The Council suggests that a special authority should be set up immediately to investigate this potential scam, punish those involved, and set an example.
The Consumer Council has formally submitted a proposal to the Commission asking for a legal investigation under Section 128 of the Electricity Act, 2003, against the three directors who were on the tender committee. The case involves the consulting firm Grant Thornton, which allegedly won the privatisation tender by making false claims in its affidavit.