NEW DELHI: The electricity rates in the city are likely to rise from April as the Delhi government is preparing for disbursal of pending dues of over Rs 38,000 crore to the three power distribution companies.
However, the government plans to subsidise the hike in power tariff to cushion the impact on the consumers. “This is a regulatory business. The government is committed to ensuring that no burden falls on the people of Delhi,” Delhi Power Minister Ashish Sood said on Monday.
“The previous government has left a debt of more than Rs 38,000 crores of regulatory assets with the discoms through Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). To recover this, the companies are authorised to increase the electricity rates,” he said.
Sood slammed the former AAP administration for allowing the debt to grow unchecked. He said that the successive failures of various past governments, “combined with the connivance and corrupt underhand dealings of the AAP government and DISCOMs”, have resulted in this accumulation of debt.
In August, the Supreme Court directed that the regulatory assets, including carrying costs of Rs 27,200 crore, be paid to the three discoms in seven years. The outstanding amount includes Rs 19,174 crore for BRPL, Rs 12,333 crore for BYPL and Rs 7,046 crore for Tata Power.