No tariff hike before CWG, hints govt

After a month of a public argument between the government and the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), the former on Thursday indicated that any change in tariff will have to wait till the curtains fall on the Commonwealth Games.

The DERC was in the process of reducing the tariff in May, when the government stepped in at the eleventh hour and asked the regulator to review representations made by discoms which argued that unless a hike in tariff was bought in, the entire business of supplying power would become unsustainable.

On Thursday, a senior government official said, “There is no chance of a power tariff hike till October. There are many intricacies involved in it and the government does not want to get into it right now.”

After the discoms and the DERC publicly traded charges and allegations, the opposition BJP stepped into the scene and asked the Chief Minister to clarify her stand on the issue. They also demanded that the government bring in a 20 per cent reduction in power tariff, keeping in mind the “profits” generated by the distribution companies.

In response to the BJP’s demand, the CM — who also holds the power portfolio — issued a detailed statement on Wednesday highlighting the urgent need to hike tariff. Arguing that the prestige of the city and its ability to hold the Commonwealth Games depended on the power companies being in a position to buy power, the CM said the regulator should look into the grievances listed out by the discoms.

“In order to revise tariff, the DERC will have to repeat all procedural requirements, including the public hearings. This whole process is likely to take a good six months or so, and hence the question of tariff changing before October just does not arise,” said a senior government official.

Sources at the DERC agreed that the power tariff is unlikely to be announced till October, but their reasons were slightly different from those of the government. “DERC chairman Berjinder Singh, who is the sole voice against a hike in tariff in the three-member deciding committee of the panel is due to retire in September. The task of appointing a new chairman will then fall on the Delhi government. Since the current chairman is unlikely to allow a hike, the government has no choice but to wait till October to announce a tariff hike,” a senior official alleged.