Lucknow, May 30 (UNI) Electricity consumers in Uttar Pradesh will be receiving higher power bills in June after the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) directed distribution companies to levy a 10% fuel surcharge to recover increased power purchase and transmission costs.
The order, issued late Friday night, allows recovery of the fuel surcharge for March 2026 in the June 2026 billing cycle. Officials indicated that a similar 10% surcharge may also be recovered in July, potentially extending the burden on consumers.
With nearly 37.3 million electricity consumers in the state, the move is expected to significantly impact household budgets.
Awadhesh kumar Verma, President of the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Consumer Council and member of the State Advisory Committee, said on Saturday that a 10% fuel surcharge had already been levied in February 2026.
"At a time when the people of the state are suffering from extreme heat, power shortages, rising inflation, petrol and diesel prices, and the increasing prices of daily commodities, this additional increase in electricity rates will prove to be a burden on ordinary consumers," he alleged.
He stated that the actual power purchase cost approved in the Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) tariff order was Rs 4.94 per unit, while the Power Corporation has imposed an additional burden of approximately Rs1,610 crore on consumers by showing the purchase price at approximately Rs 5.86 per unit in March 2026. According to the Council, this is against the interests of consumers and an impartial investigation into the entire matter is necessary.
Verma demanded a detailed investigation into the circumstances under which such expensive power was purchased in March 2026, and from which private power generating companies. According to the Council, electricity is being purchased from private companies at relatively high rates. Furthermore, claims of approximately ₹1,400 crore from previous periods have been added to the fuel surcharge for March, increasing the additional burden on consumers.
He stated that the state's power companies already have a consumer surplus of over ₹51,000 crore. In such a situation, before hastily imposing additional electricity tariffs on consumers, the Power Corporation should have brought the matter before the Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The Consumer Council has decided to immediately raise this issue with the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) and seek necessary amendments to the regulations governing fuel surcharges.
The Council has also urged the Chief Minister and Energy Minister of the state to immediately halt the 10 percent electricity tariff increase based on the February and March 2026 fuel surcharges and to conduct a high-level investigation to protect the interests of consumers. UNI MBD AAB