DERC looking into BSES ’ cost, revenue
Delhiites can expect revised power tariffs by end of this month. The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), which is currently analysing the petitions and comments submitted by discoms and consumers respectively, has said that the revised tariffs will be announced only after July 20.
DERC Chairman PD Sudhakar said the tariff petitions of the distribution companies and submissions received from various quarters in the public hearing are currently being assessed. “An announcement on power tariffs in the national Capital can be expected after July 20. Verifications and analysis take time, we are working on it,” said Sudhakar.
The process of analysing includes assessing the power purchase cost, overhead charges and operational costs. “There are a lot of things that we have to check. As many consumers during the public hearing raised the issue of selling of surplus power. We are also looking into that. Besides, currently the balance between income of the discoms and revenue earned by them is being studied by our officials,” added Sudhakar. The process has begun after the power regulator held its two-day public hearing on June 20 and June 21 for the same.
During the public hearing, the DERC had hinted at an increase in power tariffs, although it faced stiff opposition from various RWAs who demanded that tariff revision should not be done until the CAG audit is completed. “The petitions of the discoms claim regulatory assets worth `19,500 crore. If we technically go by the figure quoted by them then people will have to pay as much as Rs 2 per unit. So, we are going to analyse every aspect and see how much truth lies,” the power regulator had said during the hearing.
This apart, DERC has already recognised a Rs 11,400-crore revenue gap for the discoms for which it had chalked out a plan for recovering `8,000 crore over a period of six years from now. As a result, a power tariff hike in the national Capital is almost inevitable. “Not just the recovery roadmap, it is also because of the increasing power purchase cost. Besides, increase in coal prices is also another reason,” said a discom official.