: Out of the three distribution companies in the Capital, two of them run by the Reliance-backed BSES have failed to submit their annual revenue requirement (ARR) petitions for the current fiscal.
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had directed discoms BSES Rajdhani (BRPL), BSES Yamuna (BYPL), and Tata Power Delhi (TPDDL) to file tariff petitions for the current fiscal by April 7 or face action. However, highly placed sources in the power regulator stated that only TPDDL had submitted its ARR petitions. “The BSES has written to the DERC seeking a week’s extension for filing the petitions,” said the source. However, it is yet to be decided whether an extension is to be granted or not, added the source.
The three discoms had already missed the January deadline. Ideally, the petitions should be submitted to DERC by January so that by July-August the revised tariffs can be announced.
When The Hindu contacted BSES, its officials acknowledged that it has sought an extension for filing the petitions. “There was a lot of confusion as to which regulations discoms were supposed to base their petitions on. It was quite late when we were told that it had to be filed based on the Multi Year Tariff (MYT) Regulations, which were notified in 2011,” said a BSES spokesperson.
The spokesperson further said, “Earlier we were assuming that the MYT would either be extended by another year or the DERC Regulations, 2015, would be notified. But neither happened.”
Officials of the DERC, however, said that the BSES discoms were “repeated defaulters” as they had sought such extensions even in the past.
Last year, the regulator had refused to hike power tariffs in the city, and even the Power Purchase Adjustment Costs (PPAC) or the fuel surcharge that is levied on consumers lapsed on March 31, reducing power tariffs by 4-6 per cent.
