BJP, RWAs stay away from DERC's public hearing on tariff

The public hearing on power tariff revision, held by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) today, was boycotted by key stakeholders, including resident welfare associations (RWAs) and the BJP.
The saffron party stayed away from it alleging a "collusion" between the AAP government and private power distribution companies.
DERC has started the tariff revision process, under which it will analyse the expenses and revenue requirement of the power utilities, including the discoms, BSES and TPDDL.
The hearing was focused on the draft Business Plan Regulations, 2017 and tariff petitions filed by the discoms.
There has been no power tariff hike in Delhi in the last two years. The last tariff hike (5 per cent) in July 2014 was applicable to financial year 2015-16. There was no tariff revision for 2016-17.

The RWAs, which too stayed away from the hearing, protested against the finalisation of the business plan regulations without any hearing on the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) and the "hurry" shown by the commission in bringing in some major changes, alleged Saurabh Gandhi, general secretary of the United Residents of Delhi (URD).

"The stakeholders were expected to respond to the contents of the ARR books, which took months to be prepared by the discoms," he said.
The total revenue gap (regulatory assets) owed to the three discoms in Delhi was over Rs 34,000 crore till financial year 2015-2016. The situation has arisen due to the non-cost reflective tariff for many years, said a source.

The discoms, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL), BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BYPL) and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL), have demanded an appropriate revenue gap recovery and suitable cost-reflective tariffs to address the estimated revenue gap for the current year.
"The estimated revenue requirement for the discoms for 2017-2018 is Rs 9,052 crore (BRPL), Rs 4,892 crore (BYPL) and Rs 7,680 crore (TPDDL). The expected revenue gap on a standalone basis for the current year is Rs 1,063 crore (BRPL), Rs 523 crore (BYPL) and Rs 1,355 crore (TPDDL)," the source added.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said the hearing was a "farce" and alleged a "collusion" between the Arvind Kejriwal government and the private partners in the three distribution companies.

"The Kejriwal government, by considering the ARR of discoms on the basis of the 2007 data of the multi-year tariff, is giving them almost double benefits, while putting a heavy burden in the form annual expenses on power consumers under various heads," he said in a statement.