LUCKNOW: In a big relief to the people of Uttar Pradesh, the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) on Thursday announced keeping the power tariff unchanged for the 2021-22 fiscal.
The announcement has come just months ahead of the UP assembly elections and with it, the power tariff has remained unchanged for the third consecutive year. Yogi Adityanath government has increased power tariff just once in the past four years — in 2018-19.
The decision was taken by the electricity panel headed by Chairman RP Singh, who along with members K Sharma and VK Srivastava, rejected the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) proposal to increase the regulatory surcharge by 12%. The corporation had pleaded to raise a surcharge of around Rs 50,000 crore which eventually was to be passed on to the electricity consumers.
But after the UPERC decision, the tariff remains unchanged for urban domestic, commercial and rural consumers. Urban domestic consumers will continue to pay at the rate of Rs 5.50/unit for the first 150 units, Rs 6/unit for next 151-300 units, Rs 6.50/unit for 301-500 units and Rs 7/unit beyond 500 units. The fixed charge, too, has been kept unchanged at Rs 110/Kw/month.
A senior UPERC official termed the order as significant given the rise in the prices of coal, oil and other logistics, including salary bills of the employees. The commission maintained that the maximum demand during the month recorded by the meter will have to be indicated in the monthly bill if the meter reading is done by the licensee (Distribution Company). This will not be the case if the bill is generated on the basis of reading submitted by the consumer.
For rural consumers, the UPPCL will levy a charge of Rs 500/Kw in case of unmetered consumers. Metered consumers will be required to pay at the rate of Rs 3,35 to RS 6 per unit for various slabs, besides a fixed charge of Rs 90/Kw/month. This, too, has been kept unchanged, much to the benefit of the rural consumers. In case of life line metered consumers having the electricity load up to 1 Kw, an energy charge of Rs 3 per unit will be levied. This will be apart from the 50/Kw/month of fixed charge. For unmetered and non-lifeline consumers a fixed charge of Rs 500/Kw/month will be levied.
The UPERC officials said that the UPPCL sought inclusion of 16.64% of distribution losses but the commission approved only 11.08%. The commission also ordered that the expenditure on smart meters should not be passed on to the consumers.
President of UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhogta Parishad, Avdhesh Verma said that the parishad had been fighting a long legal battle to ensure that the corporation did not increase the power tariff. He said that the parishad will file a review petition with the commission seeking reduction in the electricity rates for giving relief to the consumers during this period itself.
In May, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ruled out the possibility of the hike in power tariff. Yogi had maintained that the tariff should remain unchanged as the state’s economy got adversely affected by the devastating second wave of pandemic and subsequent restrictions.
Hours after the UPERC announced keeping the power tariff unchanged, the ruling BJP said that it provided 54% more electricity to the villages since the government formation in 2017.
A state government spokesperson said that 24-hour uninterrupted supply is being provided to all district headquarters, 20 hours to tehsil and 18 hours to villages. He said that till 2016, a peak demand of 15,000 MW was met. This has now been increased to over 25,000 MW. The demand has also increased substantially with the addition of 1.40 crore new consumers.
The spokesperson said that the state government also abolished the regulatory surcharge which has been going on for 20 years. Even after this, the government did not increase the electricity rates for three years. The government is committed to affordable and uninterrupted electricity, he said.
