There will be no hike in electricity bills, assures Jain

NEW DELHI: Power tariffs in Delhi will not rise, asserted Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday,. adding that for the first time in the country, the prices of electricity in Delhi have been reduced rather than increased.

"I am saying this with confidence that there will be no increase in the electric bill of the citizens," said Jain, who further explained that on electricity consumption from one to 200 units in Delhi, the power tariff has been reduced by Rs 1 to Rs 3.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on Wednesday announced revised electricity rates for consumers, with the Delhi government stating that bills for domestic users will come down with lower rates, even though fixed charges per month has been increased.

Addressing the media here after DERC announced that the revised tariff, Jain said that electricity bills of all domestic consumers across different categories had come down.

"Everyone's bills have come down – for some by Rs 100, for some by Rs 50," Jain said.

He added that the fixed rate levied per month had to be increased as the central government had increased the same on electricity produced by power plants from which the Delhi government purchases power, by 50 paise per unit.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, meanwhile, slammed the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government for a massive increase in the fixed charges per month in the Delhi power tariff, which will put an additional burden of Rs 1,510 crores on the power consumers of Delhi by way of tariff and surcharge.

Maken said the AAP government, which professes to protect the interest of the "aam aadmi", has hit the common people the hardest with the massive increase in fixed charges, as the Delhi Government has "decreased" the power subsidy to the poor by 23.6 per cent.

"If a consumer uses 2KW of power, he would have to shell out a fixed charge of Rs 250 according to the revised estimate, which is a Rs 210 jump per month, as earlier, the fixed charge for consuming 2KW of power was Rs 40," said Maken.