Power consumers to bear true-up charges

Hyderabad: Pinching electricity consumers where it hurts most, and unmindful of the conflicts and political upheaval created by true-up charges in Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission (TGERC) has granted permission to the power distribution companies (Discoms) to collect true-up charges starting November 2026. Accordingly, 30 paise per unit will be collected from November and 50 paise per unit from December.

For the unversed, true-up charges in an electricity bill are “adjustments” made by power companies to recover past financial losses or refund past surplus earnings when their estimated costs differ from actual expenses (the latter rarely happens!). A true-up is a retroactive corrective mechanism rather than a permanent tariff revision, ostensibly designed to balance the books for a specific past period. Back in January 2026, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to absorb net true-up charges of Rs 4,498 crore approved by the APERC, preventing any direct tariff shocks or retrospective financial burdens on households and industries.

In Telangana, approval has been granted for collection over a period of 29 months for TGSPDCL and 26 months for TGNPDCL. The ERC has ordered the collection of Rs 2,215 crore from the government and Rs 5,420 crore from the consumers. According to the TGERC order, “The true-up amount shall be shown as a separate line item in the consumer’s bill, stating the financial year to which it relates, the monthly quantum on which it is computed and the rate applied, and shall not be merged with any other component of the bill. Where a billing month covers both years, the amount for each year shall be shown separately.”

“The recovery shall be made in respect of each eligible service connection, on the electricity consumed during FY2022-23 and FY2023-24, “eligible service connections” being all service connections served by the licencee in those years other than those of the agricultural category”, the order said.

The TG Discoms had submitted letters to the Commission requesting it to approve the proposed recovery of the approved true-up amounts of Rs. 7,635.22 crore from the eligible category of consumers with effect from CC (current consumption) bills issued in the month of November 2026 from the consumers existing during the FY2022-23 and FY2023-24 based on their consumption for the respective years. The state government has also consented to the recovery of true-up amounts in a phased manner from CC bills to be issued to the consumers. “The per-unit rate of recovery of the true-up amounts shall be Rs. 0.30/unit for first month and Rs. 0.50/unit thereafter”, the order said that in line with the policy of state government providing free power supply to agricultural sector, recovery of true-up amounts shall not be levied on the agricultural consumers.

However, TG Discoms are directed to take necessary steps to approach the government for recovery of the true-up amount of Rs. 2,214.99 crore attributable to the agricultural category, of which Rs. 1,442.49 crore pertains to TGSPDCL and Rs. 772.50 crore to TGNPDCL, the TGERC said in the order.

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Patan Afzal Babu

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Patan Afzal Babu is an experienced journalist specializing in political and state Administration. With over 20 years of writing expertise, Afzal Babu contributes new content in the areas of politics and administration. Afzal has completed post-graduation from Hyderabad Central University (with a specialization in Journalism). Afzal Babu is an accomplished writer with a passion for writing political news and breaking news. With over 20 years of experience, Afzal honed skills in various genres, including major crime news. Afzal’s diverse family history and embracing cultures have enriched writing with unique perspectives.

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