DERC withdraws power tariff hike within 24 hours
15 Nov 2014 11:48 PM GMT
This decision to roll back the hike put question marks on DERC, which always claims to be an autonomous body. The DERC stated that the hike was rolled back realising that a number of power generation companies including National Thermal Power Corporation, that supplies electricity to the city, provided partial information regarding the prices of fuel like coal and gas respectively, without rendering a complete picture.
The DERC on Thursday night had announced re-introduction of the Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) surcharge to effect an increase of tariff by up to seven per cent from Saturday.
The BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had slammed DERC for raising the tariff, demanding an immediate roll back, but DERC claimed that decision to withdraw the hike was not due to criticism from the parties.
Asked about the issue, L-G Najeeb Jung only said the hike has been withdrawn. However, DERC chairperson P D Sudhakar outrightly rejected any political pressure behind revoking his decision within 24 hours.
Sudhakar added that additional information regarding cost of producing of power from coal and gas-based power generating stations has been sought and a fresh decision on tariff will be taken within two weeks after examining the details.
‘It has now been brought to the notice of the commission that various generators including NTPC supplying power to Delhi have provided only part of the information regarding price of fuel and billing of power generated in their stations,’ said Sudhakar.
‘Additional information has been called for, which is expected shortly that will have a direct bearing on the PPAC claims by power distribution companies,’ he added.
On Thursday, DERC had hiked the tariff by seven percent for consumers of BSES Yamuna Power and was fixed at 4.5 percent for BSES Rajdhani. The hike for consumers of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd was 2.5 per cent.
While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5 per cent for domestic consumers, the DERC in July had withdrawn Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) of around 8 per cent till October.
According to DERC figures, the private discoms operating in the city have a revenue gap of a whopping Rs 19,500 crore.
The DERC on Thursday night had announced re-introduction of the Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) surcharge to effect an increase of tariff by up to seven per cent from Saturday.
The BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had slammed DERC for raising the tariff, demanding an immediate roll back, but DERC claimed that decision to withdraw the hike was not due to criticism from the parties.
Asked about the issue, L-G Najeeb Jung only said the hike has been withdrawn. However, DERC chairperson P D Sudhakar outrightly rejected any political pressure behind revoking his decision within 24 hours.
Sudhakar added that additional information regarding cost of producing of power from coal and gas-based power generating stations has been sought and a fresh decision on tariff will be taken within two weeks after examining the details.
‘It has now been brought to the notice of the commission that various generators including NTPC supplying power to Delhi have provided only part of the information regarding price of fuel and billing of power generated in their stations,’ said Sudhakar.
‘Additional information has been called for, which is expected shortly that will have a direct bearing on the PPAC claims by power distribution companies,’ he added.
On Thursday, DERC had hiked the tariff by seven percent for consumers of BSES Yamuna Power and was fixed at 4.5 percent for BSES Rajdhani. The hike for consumers of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd was 2.5 per cent.
While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5 per cent for domestic consumers, the DERC in July had withdrawn Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) of around 8 per cent till October.
According to DERC figures, the private discoms operating in the city have a revenue gap of a whopping Rs 19,500 crore.
Next Story
