As the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) accepted the power distribution companies pleas to increase tariffs on the basis of the high cost of power purchase, Delhi Power Minister Atishi on Monday clarified that power consumers with monthly usage of over 200 units will have to pay more after an 8 per cent hike in the power purchase adjustment cost (PPAC). 

She further blamed the Central Government for the power tariff hike in the national Capital.

Atishi said the hike will not impact consumers whose electricity consumption is 200 units or below. There will be a 8 per cent hike in PPAC surcharge in power bills of those consumers who do not get subsidy, she said.  “I just want to tell the consumers that only the Centre is responsible for this hike”. 

“The Centre’s NTPC selling electricity to Delhi at a massive 25-50% hike over DERC stipulated rates. This is India’s first coal supply crisis ever, caused by the Central Government’s failure to ensure sufficient production. It has forced the use of imported coal, which is 10 times costlier than domestic coal. This is despite no lack of coal mines or availability of coal in the country,” she said.

“If the Central government decides to raise the cost of coal, the PPAC and the prices of NTPC power, the entire country will suffer from an electricity price hike. The Centre has “forced” coal buyers to purchase at least 10 per cent imported coal, which costs 10 times more than Indian coal. Domestic coal is priced around Rs 200 per tonne while the imported variety costs Rs 25,000 a tonne, the Delhi Power Minister claimed.

“We want to know from the Centre if there is a nexus with coal importers which is why coal buyers are being forced to purchase imported coal at 10-times higher prices,” she asked.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government administration said the fresh rise in power tariffs will not affect the consumers. “Consumers will not be directly affected by this increase. Under the Power Purchase Agreement, electricity prices keep increasing and decreasing. Electricity becomes cheaper in winter, while the price increases slightly in summer. In every quarterly review, there is a marginal increase or decrease in the prices under the power purchase agreement,” an official statement by the Delhi NCT administration said.

The PPAC is revised every three months and it can increase or decrease depending on the prevailing prices of fuel such as coal and gas used in power generation. Atishi alleged, “I want to say that if the electricity is getting costlier in Delhi, it is only because of the Centre’s mismanagement.”

Noting that discoms are allowed to increase or lower the PPAC for three-month periods, Atishi said, “The prices of electricity have been increased because, due to the Centre’s mismanagement, there is an artificial shortage of coal in the country for the first time in the last 70 years, shooting its prices (up).”