Assam power bills to rise as AERC clears Rs 155 crore surcharge recovery

Electricity consumers in Assam should expect higher bills from November, after the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) allowed the state's power distributor to recover about Rs 155.59 crore in surcharge that it failed to bill on time earlier this year.

The amount is the accumulated Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjustment Surcharge (FPPPAS) for April to August 2026. In an order reported by The Sentinel, the commission let Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) spread the recovery across the remaining months of the financial year, from November 2026 to March 2027.

Why the bill went unpaid

FPPPAS is the mechanism that passes changes in the cost of buying and transmitting power on to consumers. Under the AERC's 2024 regulations, the surcharge for a month is normally charged in the second month after it, so April's would have been billed in June and August's in October.

APDCL told the commission it could not levy the surcharge on schedule because of flood-related disruptions and other force majeure circumstances, and asked for the rules to be relaxed. The commission relaxed four provisions of the regulations (4.2, 4.3, 4.6 and 5.1) to make the staggered recovery possible.

What APDCL proposed

The company proposed recovering the amount at an FPPPAS rate of 3.81% a month, with a month-wise schedule of roughly:

• November 2026: Rs 40.07 crore
• December 2026: Rs 30.95 crore
• January 2027: Rs 28.97 crore
• February 2027: Rs 29.36 crore
• March 2027: Rs 26.23 crore

To soften the hit on poorer households, APDCL suggested charging only 5 paise per unit to Jeevan Dhara consumers and Domestic-A consumers using up to 120 units a month. That would leave about Rs 48.73 crore unrecovered, which the company wants to claim later through the annual true-up.

What the commission actually allowed

The AERC did not approve that exact schedule or the differential rates. Instead, it gave APDCL flexibility to decide the month-wise levy between November and March, while asking it to keep the impact on consumers in mind.

The company must show the old accumulated surcharge separately from the regular monthly FPPPAS that falls due in the same months, keep month-wise records of what it levies and collects, and submit the details to the commission for a prudence check. Any later adjustment in the true-up will be allowed only as far as the regulations permit.

The commission also noted that the regular monthly surcharge from September onwards will add to the burden in the same period. It said the relaxation applies only to this case and is not a precedent, and that timely billing must remain the norm to avoid sudden, outsized jumps in consumers' bills.

How much an individual household's bill goes up will depend on the levy APDCL finally sets each month and the consumer's category and usage.