Around 70% of the power consumers in the Capital will either pay less or spend the same amount as earlier on their electricity bills from next month, as per the latest tariff order released by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on Thursday.
The power regulatory body announced that no change will be made to the per unit charge in electricity consumption. However, marginal variations have been introduced on fixed charges, which will lead to an increase of up to ₹75 for domestic users with a sanctioned load of 3 kilowatt (kW) and above. The DERC said that around 15% of Delhi’s consumers fall under this category.
Delhi’s power secretary, Varsha Joshi, said it was a huge achievement that the government was able to maintain no tariff hikes (per unit charge) for three years.
More transparency
“There has been better transparency and tariffs have not been hiked. The revenue losses stated in the previous years have been absorbed to a great extent by the surplus this year. This has opened an avenue for the government to initiate more projects,” Ms. Joshi said.
Users with a sanctioned load of 1 kW will benefit from the new order, as their fixed charges have been brought down by 2.38%, slashing their bills by half. Consumers whose sanctioned load is 2kW will have no change in their bills. For example: If a user lives in a JJ cluster or an unauthorised colony, where the sanctioned load is 1kW, they will now have to pay around ₹820 for 200 units of power, where current rate is ₹840.
For an average middle income neighbourhood, with a sanctioned load of 3kW, the consumer will have to pay around ₹3,555 for 600 units, instead of ₹3,550 — a 0.14% hike. Mr. B.P. Singh, a member of the DERC, said the charges were fixed based on how much each section can afford.
Paying capacity
“We considered public requests and grievances and decided to keep per unit tariff unchanged. The fixed charges were changed as per paying capacity of the user. While cost has been reduced for the low income group, it has been increased for middle income groups marginally,” Mr. Singh said.
At present, rates in Delhi start at ₹4 per unit for consumption up to 200 units, ₹5.80-5.90 per unit for 200-400 units, ₹7.30 per unit for 400-800 units and higher for more consumption. This component of the power bill will remain unaltered.
Apart from this, the DERC also increased sanctioned load for agriculture category from 10kW to 20kW. There is no change in the additional surcharge of 8%. An additional 3.70% surcharge will be used towards the pension trust, increasing transparency.
