The Arvind Kejriwal Government’s decision to give 50 per cent electricity tariff reduction for domestic consumers using up to 400 units per month extended to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) domestic consumers, for the financial year 2015-16.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. An additional fund of Rs 15 crore will be provided by the Government to the Power Department for this purpose. This is for the first time that electricity subsidy scheme has been extended to the NDMC areas.
Kejriwal represents NDMC assembly constituency.
“The Arvind Kejriwal Government has decided that the existing scheme of providing 50 per cent reduction in the electricity bills of domestic consumers using up to 400 units per month will also be applicable to the consumers residing in the NDMC areas,” said the sources.
As per the NDMC, there are 72,240 consumers of electricity. Of these around 45,000 are domestic consumers. The maximum peak time demand of the NDMC was 400 megawatt last year while the minimum demand went up to 150 megawatt.
It is noted that the Kejriwal Government had on Februray 25, 2015 decided to provide a 50 per cent subsidy to the domestic electricity consumers of the national Capital, who consume up to 400 units per month.
However, the Power Department was informed by the Delhi Vidyut Board Employees’ Terminal Benefit Fund Pension Trust that a sum of Rs 27 crore was recoverable from the NDMC in the form of prorata contribution to the DVB Pension Trust against the provision made in the tariff order passed by the DERC for financial years 2012-13 and 2014-15.
Since the Pension Trust is facing a huge challenge in releasing statutory payments for pensionary benefits to more than 21,300 pensioners (as on date), the realisation of overdue amount from the NDMC is of paramount importance.
The NDMC did not honour the statutory directions made in the tariff orders by the NDMC for the financial years mentioned above. It in no case can retain and utilise the amount recovered by it from consumers other than for funding the trust. It is therefore imperative that the entire amount of subsidy to be released to the NDMC should be credited to the account of Pension Trust against the overdue amount of Rs 27 crore.