Faced with an uphill task in bringing down power tariff, the Arvind Kejriwal Government has decided to take the help of former Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairman Brijender Singh to resolve the issue of power subsidy.
The former DERC chairman called on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in his office and is reported to have discussed the power sector issue, especially power tariff reduction. According to Power Department officials, Delhi Government will have to bear an additional burden of
Rs1,400 crore for power subsidy in a year but the Government seems cash-strapped. On Thursday, Power Department officials made a detailed presentation to Kejriwal regarding power availability, summer action plan and reduction of power tariff and the amount involved in subsidy.
Top sources told The Pioneer that Kejriwal has called former DERC chairman Brijender Singh to his office
to discuss the power issue.
“The Government has decided to take help from Singh on power sector, especially ways to reduce power tariff in Delhi. Singh had earlier advised Kejriwal on power during his 49-day rule,” sources said.
The meeting between Kejriwal and Singh lasted for an hour. According to sources, Singh reportedly advised Kejriwal that power tariffs being raised by discoms were grossly unfair and unnecessary. Should DERC increase power tariff and power purchase charges, the amount of subsidy may go up to Rs2,000 crore if the Kejriwal Government sticks to its promise to trim power tariff by 50 per cent for domestic consumers.
Reducing power tariff by 50 per cent for domestic consumers is proving an onerous task for Kejriwal Government in view of poor revenue collections and wretched financial health of the State Government. A team of experts in Kejriwal Government is reportedly working round-the-clock to find ways to reduce power tariff by 50 per cent.
It would be pertinent to mention that controversy was created in 2010 after
Delhi Government’s Power Department wrote a letter to the then DERC chairman Brijender Singh to stop him from issuing the order to slash power tariff by 23 per cent. An April 2010 draft order by former DERC chairman Brijender Singh stated power distribution companies would make a profit of Rs3,577 crore and henceforth tariff be reduced by 23 per cent. Singh retired in September 2010. PD Sudhakar, who took over the charge of DERC chairman, rejected his predecessor’s draft order.