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Delhiites to pay more for power; 'lifeline' for the poorest

Electricity will be costlier in the capital by about 15.7 per cent from June 1 and domestic consumers will have to cough up about 22 per cent more under the new power tariff announced in New Delhi on Thursday.

However, the "poorest category of consumers" in the power consumption level of about 50 units per month, "which is estimated to meet their minimum requirement", have been insulated by way of a "lifeline" rate of Rs1.25 per unit, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission chairman V K Sood told reporters.

He was announcing the Commission's order on tariff determination filed by Delhi Vidyut Board seeking approval for introducing new power tariff for 2001-2002.

Under the new tariff, domestic consumers will have to pay 150 paise per unit upto 100 units against the existing Re one, 210 paise per unit upto 200 units (presently 175), Rs 3 for 200-400 units and Rs 3.60 per unit for above 400 units as against the existing Rs 3, Sood said.

The tariff for agricultural consumers has gone up from 50 paise per unit to 75 paise while for domestic single phase users it has shot up to Rs 4.40 per unit and for three phase users to Rs 5 per unit, Sood said.

He, however, said Fuel Adjustment Charges shall not be levied any more separately.

DVB had proposed, amongst other measures an overall increase of 35 per cent in tariff including 50 per cent for domestic consumers, the DERC chief said.

Under the new tariff approved by the Commission after consultations with stakeholders and consumers, the small industrial power category of users will have to pay 10.8 per cent more than the existing rates while the large industrial users will have to shell out 7.5 per cent more.

The last revision of electricity tariff in Delhi was effected in 1997.

"While the Commission has fully appreciated that if the transmission and distribution losses are brought to acceptable standard, the gap between demand and collection of revenue would be minimal, yet taking a practical view, an upward revision of tariff has been considered inevitable in the long term interest of utility and the cosumer," Sood said.

The DERC chairman claimed that despite the high cost of power in the capital due to lack of generation facilities, the tariff was the lowest in Delhi compared to other states.

DVB had projected Annual Revenue Requirements of Rs 56.03 billion for 2001-02 but the Commission allowed ARR at Rs 52.39 billion.

The Commission, he said, has given a number of directives to the DVB particularly to tackle the most vital area of high transmission and distribution losses.

They include conducting complete energy audit for one feeder each of the circles and submitting to the Commission time bound action plan for metering and improvements in the billing system proposed to be brought about through the pilot project on billing during the current year.

The DERC was set up in December 1999.

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