UP targets un-metered power connections; hikes tariff by 63%

In a move to curb un-metered electricity connections, the Uttar Pradesh electricity regulator has raised tariffs for such households by 63% for the current year.

The order issued on Thursday encourages consumers to shift to metered connections, its chairperson S K Agarwal told ET over phone from Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh has over 65 lakh un-metered connections. This is the first electricity tariff revision after the Yogi Adityanath government took over in the state early this year.

The average hike for domestic consumers is 12% across categories. The electricity tariff for urban domestic electricity consumers has been raised by 9% for the current financial year, Agarwal said.

“The hefty hike for rural consumers was imminent as the electricity tariffs in the past have been very low. We have for the first time brought this change. Under the Saubhagya scheme 2.15 lakh crore new households are likely to be added. Supplying electricity to them at such low tariffs is not viable,” he said.

The fixed charge for un-metered rural connections has been raised from Rs 180/kw- Rs 200/kw every month to Rs 300/kw/month. The charges will rise to Rs 400/kw/month from March next year. The metered connection fixed charges have been raised to Rs 80 per month from Rs 50 per month. The regulator has introduced a slab as per power consumption for rural consumers which varies from Rs 3/unit to Rs 5.50 per unit.

Earlier the rural metered consumers were being charged a flat Rs 2.2 per unit price irrespective of their consumption. There has been an average Rs 0.50 per unit hike in tariffs for urban metered connections.

Agarwal said hike narrows the gap between the average cost of supply and revenue by Rs 0.60 per unit to Rs 0.74 per unit.