Electricity consumers in Uttar Pradesh will have to pay a 10% fuel surcharge on their June power bills following an order issued by the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL). The surcharge is being recovered against the Fuel and Power Purchase Adjustment Surcharge (FPPAS) for March 2026 and will be applicable across consumer categories.UPPCL, in its order issued on May 29, stated that the surcharge has been calculated in accordance with the provisions approved by the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission. (REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE)UPPCL, in its order issued on May 29, stated that the surcharge has been calculated in accordance with the provisions approved by the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC). The corporation also indicated that the total recoverable amount is higher, suggesting that further recovery may be undertaken in subsequent billing cycles.Responding to criticism, UPPCL said it did not amount to a tariff hike, noting that electricity tariffs in Uttar Pradesh had remained unchanged for nearly six years.“FPPPA is a temporary, regulator-approved adjustment linked to actual power purchase costs and can even turn negative, as it did in March 2026,” a UPPCL spokesman saidReacting to the move, the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad termed the surcharge an additional burden on consumers already struggling with rising prices and erratic power supply during the summer.Parishad chairman Awadhesh Kumar Verma alleged that the surcharge calculations included nearly ₹1,400 crore of old claims from the previous two years, inflating the amount to be recovered from consumers.He claimed that consumers had already faced a similar 10% surcharge earlier this year and demanded an immediate review of the latest recovery. He also questioned the circumstances under which costly power was procured during March and sought an independent investigation into the surcharge calculations.The consumer body said it would approach the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking intervention and urged chief minister Yogi Adityanath to halt the surcharge recovery until the matter is examined.Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai criticised the move.“The consumer is ready to pay more for better services but electricity supply is disrupted every day in the state and protests by people are evidence of the same. Hence, this fuel surcharge of 10 percent becomes a punishment for consumers. The government must immediately withdraw the decision,” Rai said in a letter to the chief minister.People of the state are already distressed by the continuously rising prices of petroleum products—with diesel and petrol prices crossing the ₹100 mark, he added.Uttar Pradesh minister Narendra Kashyap told the news agency ANI that if the state government imposed a fuel surcharge, then the “people should take it positively”.