JOIN USThe power bill for a big chunk of city residents will go up by 8.32 per cent with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) announcing a hike on Thursday. The power regulator gave a three-month breather to consumers in the 0-400 units slab.
In central Delhi areas under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) the hike is 9.53 per cent. The hike comes into effect on Thursday midnight. The regulator claimed consumers in 0-400 units slab will now pay 5.5 per cent less as it has included in the hike the power purchase adjustment cost (PPAC), which is revised every three months for the private power distribution companies (discoms).
“The discoms sought a PPAC of eight per cent and the actual hike in these two slabs was 2.5 per cent. So the electricity bill of the consumers of these two slabs will go down by 5.5 per cent. Most consumers are in the slab of 0-401 units,” P D Sudhakar, chairman DERC, said.
For consumers in the 0-200 units slab, the tariff was revised from Rs 4 per unit to Rs 4.10 per unit. For 201-400 unit slab the revised rate will be Rs 5.95 per unit with a hike of 15 paise. For the 401-800 units slab, the rates have been revised from Rs 6.80 to Rs 7.30, a 50 paise hike.
Tariff under a newly commissioned slab of 801-1200 units will be Rs 8.75 per unit.
In NDMC areas, the consumers will pay 25 paise per unit more under the 201-400 units slab, 60 paise more under the 401-800 units slab, Rs 1.50 more under the 801-1200 units slab and Rs 2.30 more for more than 1200 units.
For industrial units, including the Delhi Metro, the commission has fixed a hike of 11 per cent. Now minimum industrial tariff will be Rs 8.50 per unit against the earlier Rs 7.60.
The commission also gave a breather to the residents of group housing societies with just 15 paisa hike for connections of 10 kilowatts.
The Delhi unit of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party slammed the DERC decision and demanded an immediate rollback of the hike. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh said the power regulator's decision was “anti-people”.
“The decision was taken at the behest of the Central government and signalled arrival of bad days for Delhiites,” he said.
AAP leader Manish Sisodia said the power hike showed that the BJP was trying to undo the benefits given to the common man by the AAP government during its 49-day term. “We will protest on the streets against the hike,” he said.
The government may consider a subsidy in the power tariff in Delhi’s Budget which is likely to be tabled in Parliament soon. Meanwhile, the Delhi unit of the BJP also requested the Centre to provide relief in the power tariff.