The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved up to 12 per cent hike in power tariff to make up for the rising costs faced by the state distribution utilities.
The commission, however, abolished the regulatory surcharge of 4.28 per cent for state discoms, giving some relief to customers from the sharp increase.
The new tariff will come into effect from the date to be notified by the government, an official release said. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati demanded an immediate rollback.
"It is an anti-people decision which will put more burden on common people who are already groaning under the impact of inflation," she tweeted.
For domestic consumers, the commission approved a hike of 8-12 per cent in power tariff. The actual increase after deducting the regulatory surcharge would be between 3.72 t to 7.72 per cent.
Similarly, Industrial (Heavy) Consumer category will face a tariff hike of between 5 and 10 per cent. But the effective increase will be 0.72 to 5.72 per cent.
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For metered agricultural consumers, there is an increase of 9 per cent for the 'urban schedule' and 15 per cent for the rural schedule', the release said. The effective increase will be 4.72 to 10.72 per cent.
The hike for the industries will be the lowest across various categories to spur consumption, according to officials.
The new tariff structure is also meant to deter unmetered connections. Those with domestic unmetered connections will pay more.
The Commission will use the surplus of Rs 10,793.21 crore at the end of the 2016-17 financial year to meet the gaps in the power budget in the following years.