Assam power tariff to rise up to 5 paise per unit from November

By R K Goyal · 4 Nov, 2026

Assam has signalled a temporary 4–5 paise per unit power adjustment as fuel costs rise. AERC has also given APDCL a November–March window to recover ₹155.59 crore in accumulated surcharge.

Assam power tariff to rise up to 5 paise per unit from November

Assam power consumers are set to see a temporary adjustment of up to 5 paise per unit from November as fuel and power-purchase costs rise, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on 3 Nov 2026. Separately, an Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) order has allowed Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) to recover ₹155.59 crore in accumulated Fuel and Power Purchase Price Adjustment Surcharge (FPPPAS) over a staggered window from November 2026 to March 2027, so bills may rise even though the state describes the change as temporary.

Key takeaways

Temporary adjustment: The chief minister said the additional charge will be up to 5 paise per unit from November and should be rolled back after about three months or when the situation normalises.
Separate recovery decision: AERC has allowed APDCL to recover accumulated FPPPAS relating to April–August 2026 between November 2026 and March 2027.
Monthly levy is not final: The regulator did not approve APDCL’s proposed month-wise schedule or differential rates; APDCL has flexibility within the permitted recovery window.
Bill-line clarity: The accumulated surcharge must be shown separately from the regular monthly FPPPAS due during the same period.
EV impact: A 40 kWh charge would work out to an illustrative ₹1.60–₹2.00 at a 4–5 paise-per-unit adjustment, if that adjustment applies to the relevant charging units.

What Assam announced on 3 November

The immediate news came from the chief minister’s comments reported by PTI and The Times of India. Sarma said the state would limit the temporary increase to up to 5 paise per unit because higher international fuel prices were raising the cost of buying electricity from outside suppliers. The reported adjustment is effective from November and is not being described as a permanent revision to the base tariff.

The reporting uses slightly different descriptions of the duration. The PTI report carried by ThePrint says the 4–5 paise adjustment would apply for about three months, while the Times of India says the charge will be withdrawn when prices stabilise. That means the duration remains linked to the fuel-cost situation rather than being a permanently notified customer charge.

Why the AERC recovery matters

The separate AERC decision concerns accumulated FPPPAS, a variable charge linked to changes in fuel, power-purchase and related supply costs. APDCL told the regulator that variations in power-purchase costs had created about ₹156 crore of accumulated FPPPAS for the five months from April to August 2026, excluding supplementary bills. The commission’s 30 October order, after a 28 October hearing, permitted recovery of ₹155.59 crore in phases from November 2026 through March 2027.

APDCL’s petition proposed recovering the amount at an FPPPAS rate of 3.81% per month. It also suggested a month-wise schedule ranging from ₹40.07 crore in November 2026 to ₹26.23 crore in March 2027, with other monthly amounts in between. AERC did not approve that schedule as submitted. Instead, it gave APDCL flexibility to decide the timing and monthly manner of recovery while requiring the company to consider the consumer impact.

APDCL had also proposed a lower ₹0.05-per-unit recovery for Jeevan Dhara consumers and Domestic-A households using up to 120 units a month. The reported AERC decision did not approve APDCL’s proposed differential rates in that form. This is important because the headline 4–5 paise figure and the total ₹155.59 crore recovery are related to the same cost pressure but are not interchangeable calculations for every household.

What it means for EV charging and mobility

For an EV owner, the direct arithmetic is small but the billing structure matters. Four to five paise per unit is ₹0.04–₹0.05 per kWh. A 40 kWh home charge would therefore add ₹1.60–₹2.00 if the same adjustment were applied to those units. Twenty such charges in a month would imply roughly ₹32–₹40 before the normal energy rate, fixed charges, taxes, the regular FPPPAS and any charger-provider margin.

This is an illustration, not an approved Assam EV charging tariff. Residential, commercial and public-charging connections can be treated differently, and APDCL has not published a single customer-level rate that can be applied to every charger. EV owners can use the state-wise EV charging directory to plan charging locations, but the final price at a public station still depends on the operator and connection category.

Petrol and diesel users are not directly charged this electricity surcharge. Their immediate trip budget remains tied to the pump price, vehicle efficiency and route length. The live fuel-price pages can be used to check current petrol, diesel and CNG rates, while the fuel-cost calculator helps turn a route into a trip estimate. The Assam decision matters to mobility because electricity is also a running-cost input for home charging, charging hubs and electric fleets.

What consumers should check on the bill

Look for separate entries: AERC has directed APDCL to distinguish the accumulated April–August FPPPAS from the regular monthly surcharge that becomes payable during the same period.
Check the billing month: The recovery window runs from November 2026 to March 2027, but the exact monthly levy can vary because APDCL has been given flexibility.
Do not treat 4–5 paise as the total bill increase: It is the reported temporary adjustment, not the full electricity rate, fixed charge, tax or regular FPPPAS.
For public charging, check the operator’s tariff: The state-level power adjustment may not appear as a one-for-one change in the price displayed by every charging station.

What to watch next

The next useful number will be APDCL’s month-wise levy and how it appears on customer bills. AERC has required month-wise records of the surcharge imposed and recovered, along with supporting calculations and billing details, for regulatory scrutiny. That creates a paper trail for checking whether the accumulated charge is being recovered separately and within the permitted financial-year window.

There is also a timing issue to watch. The chief minister’s public description points to roughly three months for the temporary 4–5 paise adjustment, while the AERC permission covers recovery through March 2027. Those dates describe different parts of the cost adjustment and should not be collapsed into one promise of a fixed five-month tariff hike. The practical takeaway for Assam households, EV owners and fleet operators is to read the variable-charge line on each bill and wait for APDCL’s monthly calculation before estimating the full effect.