Delhi discoms point to Rs 3,000 crore revenue gap, seek fair tariffs

Discoms in Delhi have filed petitions with power regulator DERC for a "cost-reflective" tariff to be announced for this fiscal, citing a combined revenue gap of more than Rs 3,000 crore in 2022-23.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has started the process for determining power tariff for consumers for the 2024-25 fiscal.

Electricity rates in Delhi have remained static since 2014.

The commission has uploaded the options for the power companies on its website, seeking comments from stakeholders, including consumers, to consider while making a decision on the new rates.

The petitions showed that the revenue requirement in 2022-23 was Rs 12,116 crore for BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), Rs 6,141 crore for BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) and Rs 9,264 crore for Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL).

However, the revenue at the existing tariff was Rs 10,419 crore for BRPL, Rs 5,530 crore for BYPL and Rs 8,410 crore for TPDDL, resulting in a revenue gap of Rs 3,162 crore.

The discoms have projected a combined revenue gap of Rs 8,552 crore -- Rs 4,709 crore for BRPL, Rs 1,573 crore for BYPL, and Rs 1,739 crore for TPDDL -- in the 2024-25 fiscal.

Apart from cost-reflective tariff, the two BSES discoms have also sought surcharge on excess load for domestic consumers, parity with other states in tariff for EV charging stations, removal of cap and allowance on short-term purchase in power purchase adjustment cost, among others.

TPDDL has proposed linking tariff revision with the consumer price index, green power tariff for consumers with less than 1 MW sanctioned load surcharge on excess drawing, and mandatory online payment for consumers with bills of more than Rs 4,000, among others.