DERC to review fuel surcharge, tariff may go up in November

Power tariff in the city may go up next month as Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission is all set to levy a fuel surcharge to help the private distribution companies adjust their power purchase cost.

While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5% for domestic consumers, the DERC in July had withdrawn Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) of around 8% till October.

Chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission P D Sudhakar said a decision on "readjusting" the tariff will be taken by end of the month after examining the petitions of the three private discoms to review the PPAC.

"We will take a decision on the fuel surcharge based on petitions of the discoms. A decision will be taken by end of this month and if there is a hike in tariff, then it will come into effect from November," Sudhakar told PTI.

The regulator had introduced PPAC in 2012 to help the private power distribution companies recover additional cost on account of increase in coal and gas prices.

Delhi gets power from a number of gas and coal-based power generation plants.

Power experts said the three discoms Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd may see a hike in the range of 6 to 8%.

While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5% for domestic consumers, the DERC in July had withdrawn PPAC of around 8% for three months.

The withdrawal of the PPAC resulted in marginal decline of tariff for the consumers, whose monthly consumption does not exceed 400 units.

In January, the DERC had hiked the fuel surcharge to the tune of 8% for BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, 6% for BSES Rajdhani and 7% for Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd.

The private power distribution companies, particularly, BRPL and BYPL, have been demanding significant hike in tariff, citing rise in power purchase cost.