With a power tariff hike in the coming month imminent in the national Capital, Delhiites may have to pay as much as Rs 2 per unit extra, in case power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) accepts the Rs 20,000 crore worth regulatory assets quoted by the three power discoms in the city.
As the DERC has prepared a roadmap for the recovery of Rs 11,400 crore of regulatory assets trued up till March 2012, the same received a cold response from several Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and political parties like the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during its first day of public hearing on tariff petitions.
Speaking about a solution to the underlying issue of past under-recoveries with the discoms, DERC chairman, PD Sudhakar said, “The petitions of the discoms claim regulatory assets worth Rs 20,000 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.” Apart from this the power regulator has already recognised a Rs 11,400-crore revenue gap for the discoms. For this, it had chalked out a plan for recovering Rs 8,000 crore over a period of six years from now.
“The liquidation plan will come into effect in the tariff for 2014-15, whenever it is announced,” added Sudhakar, making it very clear indirectly that power tariffs are any way going to increase in the national Capital.
On the first day of public hearing for tariff petitions, the DERC faced flak from various RWAs and NGOs for not being able to manage the power situation in the Capital. While some residents questioned the DERC’s road map for recovery of the discoms’ regulatory assets, there were others who criticised it for approving the surplus sale of as much as 58 per cent of available power in the city.
“The sales and purchase figures submitted by the two discoms are manipulated figures as they do not match with the DERC’s figures. Similarly AT&C loses are manipulated. In 2009-10, AT&C loses were reported at 13 per cent. The discoms along with the DERC have always maintained that the losses have decreased over the years. But the recent figures say that the AT&C losses have increased to about 20 per cent,” said Saurabh Gandhi, General Secretary, United Residents of Delhi (URD) which is a group of several RWAs in the Capital.
The public hearing which was held at Siri Fort Auditorium also witnessed a political drama with Congress leaders creating a ruckus during the session. Congress leader Mukesh Sharma, who was present with other party leaders, started shouting slogans against the NDA Government over power crisis in the national Capital in past few weeks. The party has been protesting over power and water crisis in Delhi.