Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd will collect its highest-ever fuel and power purchase adjustment surcharge (FPPAS) from consumers in the month of Feb.According to FPPAS notification, a surcharge of 10% has been levied to adjust Nov’s fuel cost variation. This single-month collection is expected to garner around Rs 616 crore from UP consumers. Surcharge of 5.56% was the second highest which was levied in Dec 2025 to adjust for fuel cost variation of Sept 2025. In Sept 2025, UP recorded the highest power demand 30,255MW and electricity was purchased at Rs 4.88 per unit, while in Nov, the demand was only 19,341MW and the corporation bought electricity for Rs 5.79 per unit.Responding to the 10 % surcharge decision, UPPCL chairman Ashish Kumar Goel told TOI, “The fuel surcharge is applied automatically based on the cost of coal. Whatever coal companies charge us becomes the basis for calculating this surcharge. Similarly, the cost incurred by power producers — who generate electricity using that coal — also gets passed through to us in an automatic manner.”“There is a well-defined formula for this calculation, duly approved by the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission. The FPPA surcharge is imposed strictly according to this approved formula. The surcharge is always levied with a lag of one to two months, meaning the rate applicable now is based on coal cost data received two months earlier. Because of the higher cost of coal in that billing cycle, the surcharge has come out to 10% — but it is still entirely formula-driven,” Goel said. “NTPC, UPPCL’s power plants, and the plants planned for the future — all procure coal through Coal India or other authorized sources. Whatever cost is billed to us by these suppliers is processed through the regulatory formula. Every tariff component collected from consumers is approved by the electricity regulatory commission, ensuring full compliance with regulatory norms,” he said.UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman Avadhesh Kumar Verma and a member of the state advisory committee, said: “UPPCL claims the actual power purchase rate in Nov 2025 was Rs 5.79 per unit, compared to the UPERC approved tariff of Rs 4.94 per unit. Based on this difference, the corporation has ordered additional recovery from consumers.”
