Political compulsions have made Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission withdraw its order that would have resulted in power tariffs going up by 7 per cent, 4.5 per cent, and 2.5 per cent respectively depending on the regions.
Hike in generation costs is typically passed through to the customers. The DERC on November 13 allowed three private electricity distributors (discoms) – Anil Ambani’s BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna, and Tata’s distributor Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd – to charge Power Purchase Cost Adjustment Charge (PPAC).
Levy of PPAC, was first introduced in 2012 but was discontinued by the DERC after hiking tariffs by up to 7.5 per cent in July 2014.
The withdrawal was till October and helped in marginal decrease of electricity bills for consumers where monthly use was less than 400 units.
While discoms suspect political pressure the official communiqué from the regulator puts the blame on lack of information from the power generators like NTPC.
“DERC has communicated to us that the PPAC levy will be reviewed in two weeks time. The reason cited for the withdrawal is the partial information provided by generators such as NTPC on the fuel cost and billing of power generated at the stations,” said a senior official of one the discoms. The order allowing the hike faced severe criticism from all political quarters.
Delhi is set to go to polls soon as President Pranab Mukherjee gave the nod to dissolve the legislative assembly earlier in November.
PPAC is a surcharge levied to compensate the discoms for variation in fuel costs in the market. The component was introduced in 2012 to help discoms recover additional costs of procuring power on account of rising generation costs of the producers.