Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission Hikes Power Tariffs

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) on Thursday hiked power tariff by Rs 3 per unit for metered rural consumers for the first 100 units and Rs 4.50 per unit above the prescribed limit (100 units).

The move came within hours after the third and final phase of voting for municipal elections in the state ended on Thursday.

The UPERC said the BPL consumers, who used to get 150 units on a subsidized basis, will now be able to get only 100 units every month. Also, the urban consumers may have to shell out extra 12% for electricity usage.

These days, the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is trying to achieve the target of an uninterrupted 24x7 electricity supply to every household in the state by October 2018 under the Power for All mission. For achieve this goal, the state government is encouraging consumers to install new smart meters to deal with power thefts.

Unmetered rural consumers will be worst affected by this move. For example, consumers who used to pay Rs 180 per month on the basis of fixed rental charge will be asked to install new meters and if they fail to do so they will have to pay Rs 600- Rs 700 per month as fixed rental charges.

At present, the power department is battling with a huge loss of Rs 75,000. Power distribution companies under the UP power corporation have sent the proposal to the UPERC urging it to increase the electricity tariff.

However, the regulatory commission has also made it clear that the increase in electricity rates of rural, urban and industrial sectors will not be done under the proposals sent by the power companies. The increase in the electricity tariff of rural areas will be levied according to the cost of purchase of the electricity by power distribution companies.

The burden on urban consumers will also not be less, as per the new tariff urban consumers will have to shell out 4.90 rupees per unit for first 150 units, for 150 to 300 units the slab will be 5.40 rupees per unit, for 300 to 500 units the rates will be 6.20 rupees per unit. If a consumer exceeds 500 units consumption then he will have to pay 6.50 rupees per unit.