Residents want Reliance BSES out

East Delhi RWAs say since the power companies are running into losses, they should exit from services. Following the exit of Reliance Infra from the Delhi Airport Express Metro line, the Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) of east Delhi demanded that the Reliance-owned Discoms — BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) — that distribute power to Delhi should also withdraw from the services.

The BSES claims that its loss (revenue gap) is Rs 19,505 crore. Agitated by the constant hike in power tariffs and poor service delivery, the residents alleged that the loss-making organisation should withdraw from the power sector as well. “If you are really making losses, why don’t you back out, the way you have backed out from the airport metro project,” said B S Vohra, of East Delhi RWA Joint Front.

 

“Since Reliance Power has also been claiming that they are running into losses for the last one decade, these firms should also exit,” added Anil Bajpai, president of East Delhi Resident’s Forum. Bajpai also said that the people of Delhi have been facing long power cuts and getting hefty bills. The companies are also known to have failed to provide payments to power suppliers, he added. To recover the revenue gap, a surcharge of eight per cent is charged on all the consumers to reduce the losses, the RWA officials said. However, BSES every year claims that the revenue gap has been increasing and as a result the surcharge should increase. “Our tariffs have not increased as we have wanted. As a result we cannot make up the gap,” said an official of the power department. The RWAs have also criticised the chief minister Sheila Dikshit for supporting the discoms. “We expect chief minister and Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission to intervene and address the problem, and not safeguard the interest of private power companies,” said M M Mehra, secretary, Resident Welfare Association of Karkardooma. 

 

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