Come November and Delhiites must brace for a power tariff hike as the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is all set to levy a fuel surcharge to help the private distribution companies adjust their power purchase cost (PPAC). Sources within various power utilities have suggested that the discoms have sought as much as 17.1 per cent hike in their quarterly fuel surcharge submissions. The power regulator had done away with PPAC charges in its last power tariff revision due to which bills didn’t go up.
Out of all the submissions received by the DERC on Tuesday, BSES Yamuna Power limited (BYPl) has quoted the highest (17.1 per cent), followed by Tata Power Delhi Distribution limited (TPDDl) which has asked for over eight per cent hike. BSES Rajdhani Power limited (BRPl) has sought 7.26 per cent.
levied quarterly, the PPAC is likely to come into effect from November 1. “We have received the fuel surcharge submissions from the discoms. The tariffs will be readjusted once we are done with a thorough scrutiny of all their petitions. By all means, it will be imposed November onwards,” said PD Sudhakar, Chairman, DERC.
Power experts suggest that city dwellers will have to bear with five to seven per cent increase in electricity bills as the PPAC is inevitable. Explaining why the PPAC needs to be added they said, “Delhi discoms buy around 80-85 per cent of their electricity from Central generating stations, which are governed by the CERC. They are able to pass on the 100 per cent increase in the inputs costs to the discoms on a monthly basis. Delhi discoms, which are governed by the State regulator, on the other hand, are unable to do so. Besides, the PPAC was not levied in the last quarter.”
Since 2002, the cost of buying power for Delhi discoms has increased by around 300 per cent, whereas the retail tariff has risen by around 87 per cent in the corresponding period, added an official from the power department.
The power regulator had last hiked the fuel surcharge in January this year. That time it had done so to the tune of eight per cent for BYPl, six per cent for BRPl and seven per cent for TPDDl. While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5 per cent for domestic consumers, the DERC in July had withdrawn PPAC of around eight per cent till October. The withdrawal of the PPAC resulted in marginal decline of tariff for the consumers, whose monthly consumption does not exceed 400 units.
The regulator had introduced PPAC in 2012 to help the private power distribution companies recover additional cost on account of increase in coal and gas prices.