E-vehicles, low-end shops get boost in Delhi

By reducing the cost by a rupee, the tariff rates for charging an electric vehicle is now the lowest in the national Capital, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) said on Wednesday.

While this will help the 68,000 registered e-rickshaws in the city, it is also expected to encourage companies to boost charging infrastructure.

There are only about 300 privately-owned e-vehicles in the national capital, which discoms said is mainly because of lack of charging infrastructure. “Reducing the charging rates would push companies to set up these stations more swiftly and consumers would also then consider buying EVs economical,” said a discom official on condition of anonymity.

“For the low-tension category in e-charging stations, the energy charge has been decreased from ₹5.50/kVAh to ₹4.5/kVAh. For the high-tension category, the same will be ₹4 instead of ₹5,” said DERC chairman Justice (retired) S S Chauhan.

The DERC chief said other states like Uttar Pradesh levy a fixed charge on e-charging stations. “But in Delhi, we have removed fixed charge to promote clean fuel and combat pollution. So, the only rates applicable for EV charging points are the energy costs,” he said.

Apart from this, the DERC has also expanded its list of “professional” exemptions to use domestic electricity connections for work. In Wednesday’s order, the Commission extended the benefit of ‘domestic category’ to psychologists and physiotherapists practising from their homes. Such exemptions are already provided to lawyers, doctors, architects, chartered accountants, company secretaries, cost and works accountants, engineers, town planners, media professionals and documentary film makers. A commercial connection, otherwise, costs more than double the domestic category rates.

For low-end shopkeepers, the power regulator has also introduced a sub-category for non-domestic consumers with the sanctioned load of up to 3kVA and has reduced its energy charge rate from ₹8.50/kVAh to ₹6.00/kVAh. However, the commission was unable to provide an estimate of the number of such shopkeepers who would benefit from the move.

To promote mushroom production in Delhi, the DERC excluded mushrooms cultivation from the ‘agriculture category’ of consumers. It also increased the sanctioned load for such cultivators from 20kW to 100kW, fixed charges for which will be ₹200 per KW per month, while the energy charges will be ₹6.50 per unit