Bengaluru: BESCOM Bills Set To Rise From May — Here’s What Consumers Need to Know
Electricity consumers under the jurisdiction of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will face higher power bills starting May, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), Deccan Herald reported.
According to the report, the regulator has permitted BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore recorded for the financial year 2024–25.
As part of this, consumers will be charged an additional 56 paise per unit of electricity consumed during that period.
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This amount will not be collected immediately but will be recovered in instalments over the financial year 2026–27 through monthly electricity bills.
How Will The Charges Be Collected ?
“Bescom will determine, for each active consumer of FY 2024-25, the amount to be recovered based on their actual electricity usage during that year,“ reported DH quoting officials.
“This amount will then be collected during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, referred to as ‘FY25 true-up charges’, starting from the first meter reading on or after May 1, 2026, and ending with the reading on April 30, 2027,” the order added.
This means that the additional cost will be distributed evenly across bills issued during the recovery period, rather than being charged as a one-time payment.
Why The Increase Has Been Approved
BESCOM officials cited in the report stated that the increase is due to “true-up charges,” which are applied when there is a gap between projected and actual financial performance.
A senior official told Deccan Herald, “Each year, electricity supply companies function based on estimated costs and revenues approved by the KERC through the annual tariff order.
However, actual performance may vary from these estimates due to changes in electricity usage patterns, tariff adjustments, input costs, and other operational reasons.”
Officials added that such charges are necessary to balance the difference between projections and actual outcomes.
According to BESCOM, several factors contributed to the financial shortfall. These include higher allocation of thermal power, increased cost of purchasing electricity, and reduced rainfall. Lower rainfall led to greater use of irrigation pump sets, which in turn increased overall power consumption.
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