Over 2.74 crore power consumers in Uttar Pradesh will face the heat before the summer season after the State Electricity Regulatory Commission has accepted the proposal given by the state power companies to increase the power tariff of the state between 18 to 23 per cent in the next financial year.
Now the commission has sought objections and suggestions on this hike from the general public and other stakeholders. There will be a public hearing from April. New rates are set to be announced by the last week of May or the first week of June.
Meanwhile, the State Consumer Council has started protesting against the proposed hike. The council says that about Rs 25,133 crore of the consumers were lying with the power companies, in such a situation, electricity rates should not be increased at any cost.
Earlier an average increase of 18 to 23 per cent has been proposed in the annual revenue requirement filed by all the power companies of the state for the year 2023-24. A bench of Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman RP Singh and member VK Srivastava accepted the proposal on Tuesday.
In the proposal, an increase in electricity rates of domestic consumers is proposed by about 18 to 23 per cent. An average 10 to 15 percent increase proposed in the rates of other electricity consumers. A 16 per cent increase has also been proposed in the power rates of industries.
The annual revenue requirement of all the power companies is around Rs 92547 crore. The distribution losses are 14.9 per cent. The gap for the year 2023-24 is Rs 9140 crore.
Awadhesh Kumar Verma, President of Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Consumers Council and member of the State Advisory Committee, said that under any circumstances, the proposal to increase electricity rates will not be allowed to be implemented.
The consumer council has already informed the Regulatory Commission through its petition that a total of Rs 25,133 crore extra is being spent on the power companies of the state. In such a situation, talking about the increase in electricity rate is cheating with the consumers of the state. There is a need to reduce the electricity rates by 35 % in one go or 7 % every year for the next five years.