Delhi state BJP chief Vijender Gupta on Tuesday demanded that the hike in power tariffs should be rolled back in the capital city. He cited an order made by Brajendra Singh, former chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), stating that Singh had ordered a rollback of hike in power tariffs.
Gupta said that the former DERC chief stated in the tariff order for the year 2010-11 that there was a case for reduction in tariff to the tune of 23 per cent. Gupta alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, members of DERC and some officers did not allow the implementation of Singh’s order to decrease the power tariff.
In 2008-09, the cost of supplying power to companies was Rs 7.29 per unit, which came down to Rs 5.35 per unit in 2009-10, Rs 3.49 per unit in 2010-11, Rs 3.27 per unit in 2011-12 and Rs 3.25 per unit in 2012-13. In this situation, when purchase costs are coming down, the hike in power tariff is the result of a conspiracy between the government and power supply companies.
Gupta said that Singh had found that in North India there has been a decrease in power tariff from 2008 to 2012 because additional power was being produced, but the consumers kept paying high rates.