Guwahati: Electricity consumers in Assam are likely to face higher monthly power bills from November after the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) approved the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd’s (APDCL) proposal to recover around Rs 155.59 crore in accumulated Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjustment Surcharge (FPPPAS).

The accumulated surcharge, relating to the period from April to August 2026, will be recovered through a staggered mechanism between November 2026 and March 2027.

In an order, the commission relaxed Regulations 4.2, 4.3, 4.6 and 5.1 of the AERC (Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjustment) Regulations, 2024, to allow APDCL to recover the pending amount over the remaining months of the current financial year.

APDCL had approached the commission seeking relaxation of the existing provisions, citing delays in imposing the surcharge due to flood-related disruptions and force majeure circumstances.

The power distribution company said fluctuations in power purchase and transmission costs had resulted in the accumulation of approximately Rs 156 crore in FPPPAS dues over the five-month period, excluding supplementary bills.

According to APDCL’s proposal, the Rs 155.59 crore would be recovered over five months at a proposed FPPPAS rate of 3.81 per cent per month. The projected monthly recovery is Rs 40.07 crore in November, Rs 30.95 crore in December, Rs 28.97 crore in January 2027, Rs 29.36 crore in February and Rs 26.23 crore in March.

Under the existing regulations, the surcharge for a particular month is generally collected in the second succeeding month. Accordingly, the FPPPAS for April was due in June, May in July and August in October. However, the accumulated dues could not be recovered within the prescribed billing cycles.

The AERC also noted that the regular monthly FPPPAS becoming due from September 2026 onwards would add to the recovery burden during the remaining months of the financial year.

APDCL argued that recovering the entire accumulated surcharge from economically vulnerable households would impose an excessive financial burden on them.

To address this concern, the company proposed limiting the surcharge to Rs 0.05 per unit for consumers under the Jeevan Dhara category and Domestic-A category households consuming up to 120 units a month. Other consumer categories would be charged the applicable surcharge under the proposed recovery mechanism.