Private discoms BSES Rajdhani Power ltd and BSES Yamuna Power ltd on Wednesday told the Surpreme Court that they need to increase power tariff by 20-25 per cent in order to become financially viable. With the Anil Ambani-owned BSES owing money to various power generating PSUs, including NTPC and NHPC over purchase of power, the two power discoms which hold a major share of city’s power supply had approached the Supreme Court for uninterrupted power supply. The companies claimed that if supply was not secured, there was a possibility of a blackout in major parts of the city.
Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), which fixes the power tariff, opposed the plea of the private discoms saying they have “buffered up” the losses. “Tata Delhi Power Distribution limited (TDPDl) is the third private discom which supplies power in Delhi. It also acts under the same so-called draconian regulatory regime and it has paid every penny to the power generating companies,” counsel for DERC submitted before a bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for one of the BSES firms, referred to the accounts and said a major portion of the revenue was being spent in purchasing electricity from the Government-owned power generating companies and the firm was denied “cost reflective tariff” from the regulator (DERC). “BSES Rajdhani Pvt ltd started with opening overdues of Rs2,847 crore in January 2014 and by January, 2015, the closing overdues went up to Rs3,965 crore.
Similarly, BSES Yamuna Power Pvt ltd (BYPl) started with opening overdues of Rs2,394 crore in January 2014 and by January 2015, the closing overdues was Rs3,590 crore. This is completely unviable financial position,” Sibal said. He said that largely the regulator (DERC) was responsible for the present mess in which the discoms are in. “The regulator is not exercising the power independently of the Government. If the revenue gap is to be bridged then the power tariff needs to be raised by 20-25 per cent,” he said.
Senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for the other BSES firm did not deny that the company owed money to the power generating companies. However, he stated, “The issue is unless the revenue gap is bridged by the cost-reflective tariff order, we will not be able to pay.” The hearing in the case will continue on Thursday when DERC will respond to the BSES arguments in the case.