NEW DELHI: In a relief to industrial and non-domestic consumers, power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) reduced fixed charges by 50 percent on Monday. DERC slashed the fixed charges for unutilised capacity of sanctioned load or contract demand by Rs 125 for the months of April and May when lockdown was imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Considering the demand of industry associations and non domestic consumers, the DERC said that “The Commission hereby decides that for electricity bill pertaining to consumption related to April 2020 and May 2020. Fixed Charges for remaining Billing Demand shall be billed at 50% of existing rate i.e., 125 per KVA.”
Delhi’s Power Minister Satyendar Jain said, “This will be a huge relief for non-domestic and commercial users. The expected impact of the said waiver is around `160 Crore. This will benefit around 44,000 Industrial consumers and around 10 Lakh non-domestic consumers.”
Tweeting the order issued by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Delhi government stands with the people of Delhi in this hour of crisis. This relief in fixed charges will help lakhs of people to face hardships caused by Corona.”
Kejriwal had met traders and industrial associations last week and had assured them that adequate steps will be taken to provide relief regarding the fixed power charges. Over the last few days, many trader associations and industrial associations have met the chief minister and requested him to intervene in this regard.
The order read that during the lockdown period till 30/05/2020, majority of Commercial and Industrial consumers did not use their system to the contracted capacity, However, the fixed charges at the applicable rate have been billed to them based on the billing demand as per the DERC.