The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is going to hold a public hearing for this year’s power tariff revision in the first week of August.
Sources said that the power regulator had completed analysing and verifying the petitions submitted by the distribution companies, and that “dates for the public hearing would be announced soon”.
This means, the tariffs in the Capital are likely to be revised by the end of August. Owing to the delay, the discoms have now urged the commission to expedite the process. The DERC said it was yet to take a decision on hiking tariffs again, which may escalate its confrontation with the AAP government.
The power utilities have sought a hike in tariffs of up to 20 per cent as they have claimed a revenue gap of around Rs. 28,000 crore.
The Reliance Energy-backed BSES discoms have petitioned the DERC for up to 19 per cent hike, while the Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) has demanded an increase of 20 per cent.
Making a case for hiking tariffs, the discoms have argued that their combined revenue gap due to the absence of a cost-reflective tariff has increased exponentially and the financial position would worsen further if there was no increase in rates.
The total under recoveries of the BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and the BSES Yamuna Power Ltd have risen to Rs. 20,000 crore while for the TPDDL, it has been estimated at Rs. 8,000 crore, according to the discoms.
On June 12, the DERC had hiked tariffs by up to six per cent to compensate the discoms for rise in power purchase cost. The AAP government had strongly criticised the DERC for the hike.
Power experts said the Delhi discoms have to incur 60 per cent more cost on buying power compared to other States because of the long-term power purchase.
The power regulator has completed analysing and verifying the petitions submitted by the distribution companies, and that “dates for the public hearing shall be announced soon”.
with thanks : The Hindu : LINK
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