Electricity consumers in Assam may face higher monthly bills from November after the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) permitted the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) to recover Rs 155.59 crore in accumulated Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjustment Surcharge (FPPPAS).
The amount relates to additional costs accumulated between April and August 2026. APDCL has been allowed to recover the dues in phases over five months, from November 2026 to March 2027.
In its 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 enable the recovery.
APDCL had sought the relaxation, citing delays in imposing the surcharge because of flood-related disruptions and force majeure circumstances. It said fluctuations in power purchase and transmission costs had resulted in accumulated dues of around Rs 156 crore over the five-month period, excluding supplementary bills.
The company had proposed recovering the amount through a monthly FPPPAS rate of 3.81 per cent. Its suggested schedule involved collecting Rs 40.07 crore in November, Rs 30.95 crore in December, Rs 28.97 crore in January, Rs 29.36 crore in February and Rs 26.23 crore in March.
Under the existing regulations, a month’s surcharge is generally collected in the second succeeding month. However, the accumulated dues could not be recovered within the prescribed billing cycles. The AERC also noted that regular monthly FPPPAS liabilities from September 2026 onwards would add to the recovery burden during the remaining months of the financial year.
APDCL had additionally proposed limiting the surcharge to Rs 0.05 per unit for Jeevan Dhara consumers and Domestic-A households using up to 120 units a month, citing the financial pressure on economically vulnerable families. Under this proposal, Rs 48.73 crore would remain unrecovered and be considered during subsequent true-up proceedings, subject to the commission’s approval.
However, the regulator did not accept APDCL’s proposed month-wise collection schedule or differential rates. Instead, it gave the company discretion to determine how the accumulated surcharge would be recovered between November and March.
The commission directed APDCL to take the impact on consumers into account while fixing the monthly levy. It also instructed the company to show the accumulated surcharge separately from the regular monthly FPPPAS payable during the same period.
APDCL must maintain month-wise records of the surcharge imposed and collected, along with supporting calculations and billing details, and submit them to the commission for scrutiny.
The AERC clarified that any adjustment during the true-up process would be permitted only to the extent allowed under the applicable regulations or as decided by the commission.
It further stated that the relaxation was granted exclusively in view of the exceptional circumstances of this case and would not constitute a precedent for future matters. The commission stressed that timely compliance with regulations must remain the norm to prevent the accumulation of unpaid dues and avoid sudden or disproportionate increases in electricity tariffs.
