Uttarakhand Slashes Open-Access Surcharge to ₹1.09/kWh

Uttarakhand Slashes Open-Access Surcharge to ₹1.09/kWh

The Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has approved an additional surcharge of ₹1.09 per kWh for open-access consumers, effective from October 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

The reduced surcharge reflects a modest ₹0.03/kWh drop compared with the previous period’s ₹1.12/kWh, and a further cut from ₹1.14/kWh seen during April–September 2025.

This move follows a petition by Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited, UPCL, which sought to recover fixed power-purchase costs that became “stranded” after large consumers shifted to open-market power rather than the state distribution network.

According to the independent slot-wise analysis by UERC of usage data for October 2024–March 2025, the total stranded energy at the consumer end, after accounting for transmission and distribution losses, came to about 111.7 million units. Spreading the fixed costs incurred by six interstate power plants over this volume yielded the surcharge rate of ₹1.09/kWh.

This surcharge, the regulator has clarified, is to be applied uniformly across all open-access consumers irrespective of the voltage level at which they are connected.