LUCKNOW, Nov 29: Power consumers in the state are in for a rude shock as the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Regularity Commission (UPSERC) is expected to announce a hike in power tariff on Thursday.
Officials in the UPSERC said here on Tuesday that they were ready for the announcement of the new power tariff that would be enforced from mid-December. “The new power tariff would be announced either tomorrow or on Friday,” the official confirmed.
The tariff hike was delayed for about two months as a result of civic elections in the state. Though the urban consumer is likely to face additional burden of just 15 per cent, the rural populace will most likely have to bear the major brunt with a hike of 150-200 per cent.
Earlier, the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) had proposed a hike in the tariff in the rural areas by around 300 per cent, but officials said caution was exercised after directions from the state government.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman Avdhesh Verma urged the UPSERC chairman S K Agarwal to sympathetically consider the problems of the power consumer and reconsider the tariff hike proposed by the UPPCL.
Though UPSERC has time till January 2, 2018 to announce the new power tariff, there is pressure from the UPPCL to announce it early. UPPCL on August 8 last had filed a proposal seeking an increase in power tariff of rural domestic consumers and farmers. However, the average electricity tariff hike sought is 22.66 per cent for all sectors.
In its proposal submitted to the UPERC, the UPPCL had sought 260 per cent to 350 per cent increase in the current electricity tariff in respect of unmetered rural domestic consumers and 150 per cent hike for metered rural domestic consumers for the year 2017-18.
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