UP Power Corp to mop an extra Rs 200 cr a month with rate hike

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has pegged additional revenues of Rs 200 crore a month in the light of substantial increase in power rates from today.

The state power utility is in the red, with losses of about Rs 25,000 crore.

"We hope to generate additional revenues of Rs 200 crore a month with revised rates in place," Managing Director A P Mishra told Business Standard.

UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) had on May 31 approved the new power tariff structure effecting over 30 per cent rise in the monthly power bills for the domestic, commercial and rural consumers.

Only industrial consumers had been exempted from this steep hike.

On June 3, UPPCL had issued a notification for the new power tariffs, which comes to force from today.

While, the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party government in UP has supported the tariff hike attributing it to the massive losses of UPPCL, the opposition parties have slammed the government.

Principal opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) even alleged that the power tariffs had been hiked to mop up revenues for the free laptop scheme of the ruling party.

The fixed charge on power consumption load has been increased by Rs 10 from Rs 65 per kilowatt (Kw) to Rs 75 per Kw for domestic consumers. The power tariff has been hiked from Rs 3.45 per unit to Rs 4 per unit for the first 200 units of consumption.

Between 201 and 500 units of consumption, power tariff has been hiked from Rs 3.80 per unit to Rs 4.50 per unit. Beyond that, the power tariff has been hiked to Rs 5 per unit of consumption.

For rural unmetered consumers, the tariff has been hiked from Rs 125 per month to Rs 180 per month. For metered rural consumers, the fixed charge has been increased from Rs 15 per Kw to Rs 50 per Kw, while energy charge has been hiked from Rs one per unit to Rs 2.20 per unit.