Electricity bills to get costlier as 6.5 percent surcharge hike approved
Twenty Lakh electricity consumers of Uttarakhand will have to brace for increased electricity bill second time in a year. Consumers got their first shock of expensive electricity in April, the very first month of the current financial year. After hearing the petition of UPCL, Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission has agreed to 6.5 percent surcharge on electricity bills. This surcharge will be collected from the consumers between September 1 and March 31, 2023.
In the regulatory commission, UPCL had filed a petition seeking recovery of Rs 1350 crore as surcharge to recover from the loss of costly power purchase. According to this petition, UPCL had demanded imposition of about 13 per cent surcharge. In the commission, a bench of chairperson DP Gairola and member technical MK Jain held a public hearing on this in July. After the hearing, an order to increase the surcharge was issued on Wednesday.
Under this, except about five lakh BPL consumers, more than 20 lakh consumers will have to pay surcharge for seven months. It may be mentioned that there are 25 lakh forty thousand electricity consumers in the state, out of which five lakh eight thousand are BPL consumers. UPCL had proposed recovery of Rs 1355 crore forty one lakh from surcharge in the commission, in return of which the commission has decided to impose surcharge of 380 crore.
If a consumer’s bill comes to 100 units per month, then they will now have to pay five rupees extra in their bill. Example if,earlier the cost of their bill used to be Rs 290, now it will be increased to Rs 295. Similarly Consumers with 101 to 200 unit bills will have to pay an additional Rs 25 every month. For instance, if their bill used to come to Rs 400 per month, then it will now increase to Rs 425. Similarly, those with 201 to 400 units will have to pay Rs 55 per month and consumers above 400 units will have to pay an additional Rs 90 per month.
New rates for domestic consumers
Category – Before – New Rates
BPL – 01.65- 01.65
0-100 units- 02.90- 2.95
101-200 Unit- 04.20- 04.45
201-400 Unit- 05.80- 06.35
Above 400 units- 06.55- 07.45
Note : Amount per unit in Rs.
