India
-Ashish Rana
Uttar Pradesh is facing a serious electricity crisis as long power cuts continue, and power companies are now preparing to rehire contract staff. At the same time, a 10% surcharge on bills and questions over costly power purchase have triggered concern, with a consumer council asking for a detailed investigation.
Uttar Pradesh is rehiring contract staff to address an electricity crisis causing long power cuts after dismissing 20,000 workers earlier. Separately, a 10% bill surcharge mandated for NTPC and CTU arrears faces scrutiny, with a consumer council demanding an investigation into costly power purchases.
The current shortage worsened after around 20,000 contract employees were removed before the summer season. With fewer field teams, fixing faults started taking longer than the scheduled time. Many localities remained without electricity in peak heat, and complaints kept increasing across districts.
UP electricity crisis and contract staff recruitment
Power companies have now decided to recruit contract workers again to handle faults faster and improve supply. A zone-wise assessment of requirements is underway, and the process to appoint skilled and semi-skilled contract personnel has started. The aim is to match staff strength with fault load in each area and reduce long unscheduled outages.
Earlier, each substation had only one team looking after repair and maintenance work. Many of these substations have seven to eight feeders. When more than one feeder developed a fault at the same time, staff had to repair them one after another. This delayed restoration, leaving people without electricity for many hours in harsh weather.
UP electricity crisis and power surcharge
Repeated questions over rising outages pushed the authorities to act. Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam has floated a tender on the GeM portal to hire skilled and semi-skilled contract workers. The company has started scrutinising documents of firms that have applied. Other power distribution companies in Uttar Pradesh are also moving in the same direction.
Alongside the UP electricity crisis, consumers are also dealing with a 10% surcharge on power bills. On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation stated that this extra charge is being levied in compliance with orders of the Appellate Tribunal. The amount covers arrears payable to NTPC under the ash transportation head and past dues to the Central Transmission Utility (CTU).
UP electricity crisis and costly power purchase
According to the corporation, these payments have caused a temporary increase in power purchase cost. Officials also stressed that electricity tariffs in Uttar Pradesh have not been raised for the past six years. The surcharge is being collected under the framework set by the state electricity regulatory commission and is treated as a pass-through cost.
The corporation explained that the surcharge rate changes every month. It is calculated from the difference between the commission-approved power purchase cost and the actual cost. Sometimes the rate even becomes negative. For example, in February 2026 the rate was 10, while in March it turned negative at -2.42 percent.
Consumer council representatives, however, have demanded a probe into high-cost power purchase linked to the UP electricity crisis. The regulatory commission’s tariff order had approved an actual power purchase cost of Rs 4.94 per unit. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation bought electricity in March 2026 at about Rs 5.86 per unit. This, they said, placed an extra burden of Rs 1,610 crore on consumers. They insisted, “महंगी बिजली खरीद की जांच होनी चाहिए।”
The council pointed out that a petition was filed in February 2026 before the regulatory commission, seeking an inquiry into the fuel surcharge component. According to the council, the commission has not taken any initiative in that matter so far, while the corporation is passing the impact of higher electricity bills on to the public.
With contract staff recruitment beginning again, officials expect fault repair to speed up and some relief in the UP electricity crisis. Yet, issues related to the 10% surcharge, arrears to NTPC and CTU, and alleged costly power purchase remain under scrutiny. Consumers now await decisions from regulators and authorities on these financial questions.
