Delhi’s revised power tariffs likely to be announced by month-end

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is going to revise power tariffs in the city by the end of this month, officials in the power regulator said on Tuesday.

However, for the first time no public hearing would be conducted for the process, prompting criticism from resident’s welfare associations who said they would appellate authority.

The power regulator, which is an independent and quasi-judicial body, will also not hold a press conference to announce the revised tariffs, officials said.

“This year’s tariff announcement is expected any time now. At present, the two other members of the commission are going through the document. The new tariff structure will be uploaded on our website derc.gov.in

“Due to Covid-19, no press conference, as has been the tradition for more than a decade, will be held this year. The tariff document will be sent to all media houses via email,” said SS Chauhan, chairperson DERC.

Various RWAs criticised the DERC for completely doing away with the practice of conducting a public hearing, with some even saying that they would file a petition in the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity against the move.

“Instead of not holding the hearing at all, the commission could have held a video conference over a couple of days. The DERC is holding a public hearing for other cases through video conference, but it did not do so in this case. Once the tariffs are announced, we will register a complaint because after seeking comments through post or email, holding a public hearing is mandatory under the Electricity Act,” said Saurabh Gandhi, secretary of United Residents of Delhi, an umbrella body of RWAs which is active in matters related to power in Delhi.

Responding to the criticism, the DERC said to compensate for the public hearing, the commission this time extended the deadline for seeking comments, suggestions and objections from all stakeholders by over three months. “This is an exceptional time. Due to the pandemic, no large gathering of more than 50 people is allowed. We extended the last date of seeking written suggestions and objections from March 20 to June 30,” said a senior DERC official.

As keeping power tariffs low has been a key poll promise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, electricity charges have not been hiked in the capital in the past four years. Senior government officials said an increase in tariff is highly unlikely.

Throughout the lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19, RWAs have demanded a waiver in the fixed charges that are levied on every electricity bill based on the sanctioned load of a household. “We have written to the commission as well requesting the same. RTI replies have shown that fixed charges are being collected by various discoms, on a total sanctioned load of 22,876 MW in Delhi. At the same time, the highest ever peak load till date in the Capital has been only 7,409 MW which is not even one-third of the total sanctioned load and that peak occurs for a few minutes only in the entire season,” said BS Vohra, president of East Delhi RWAs joint front.

Owing to the pandemic and the lockdown that followed, the three private power distribution companies this year have demanded over Rs 2,277 crore more than last year’s aggregate revenue requirement (ARR).

Aggregate Revenue Requirement means the revenue required to meet the cost pertaining to the licensed business for a financial year, which would be permitted to be recovered through tariff and charges by the commission.

According to the petitions of discoms shared by the power regulator, all three utilities – BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) – together have stated an aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) of Rs 23,857.37 crore. They had sought Rs 21,580 crore last year.

The BRPL has given an ARR of Rs 10,353 crore against last year’s Rs 9424 crore, TPDDL has demanded Rs 8510.37 crore (last year Rs 7,126 crore) and BYPL Rs 4994 crore (Rs 5,030 crore last year).