The Hindu : New Delhi News : Power now 10 per cent dearer for Delhiites

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 08, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Power now 10 per cent dearer for Delhiites

Staff Reporter

Barring railways, tariffs have been raised for all categories with the agricultural sector being the worst hit

NEW DELHI: After paying more for water, Delhiites will now have to shell out more for electricity from July 15 with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on Thursday announcing an almost 10 per cent increase in charges for domestic consumers. Barring railways, tariffs have also been raised for all categories with the agricultural sector being the worst hit affected with a 19.8 per cent increase followed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation at 8.6 per cent. DERC has also raised fixed charges in all categories.

In the domestic category, new charges for the first 200 units would be Rs.2.40 per unit per month, up by 20 paise, followed by Rs.3.90 for 201-400 units, an increase of 30 paise, and Rs.4.60 for consumption above 400 units against the pervious charge of Rs.4.10. This way an average increase of 10 per cent has been effected.

The hike will not affect those living in slum clusters as their fixed monthly charges remain at Rs.175.

Similarly, fixed charges have also been hiked for domestic consumers. Under the new plan, a consumer with a 2 kW sanctioned load will have to pay a fixed monthly charge of Rs.24 against the existing Rs.20, while the fixed charge for 2-5 kW load will be Rs.60, a hike of Rs.10, and for load above 5 kW, Rs.12 per kW will be charged against the existing Rs.10.

For domestic consumption on 11 kV single delivery point for group housing societies, the new fixed monthly charges will be Rs.12 per kW from the existing Rs.10 per kW, while the tariff structure will be Rs.2.40 per unit for the first 44.4 per cent of units consumed followed by Rs.3.90 for next 44.4 per cent units and Rs.4.60 for the remaining 11.2 per cent units. At present, group housing societies pay Rs.2.57 per unit.

And for electricity connections in regularised / unauthorised colonies and villages where tariffs are levied according to plot size, the revised tariffs are Rs.2.64 per unit against the existing Rs.2.40 for 50 sq. yds. plot size; Rs.3.84 against Rs.3.50 for plot size 51-100 sq. yds.; Rs.5.04 against Rs.4.60 for 101-150 sq.yds.; and Rs.6.99 against Rs.6.40 for 151-200 sq.yds. And for plot size more than 200 sq. yds, tariffs would be same as other domestic consumers.

For the non-domestic (low tension) category, the monthly fixed charge has been increased to Rs.50 from Rs.35, while the new rates per unit will be Rs.5.53 against the existing Rs.5.20 for connections with load up to 10 kW. Similarly, tariffs in mixed load (high tension) category have also been increased. However, tariff for load more than 10 kW has been reduced to Rs.4.87 against the existing Rs.5.45, while for 11 kV single delivery on commercial complexes, new tariffs would be Rs.4.14 against the existing Rs.4.63.

Industrial category

Similarly, in the industrial category, a uniform hike of Rs.15 per kW per month have been effected in all segments where energy charges have also been increased. For agriculture and mushroom cultivation, revised energy charges are Rs.1.50 per unit from Rs.1.10 and Rs.3 from Rs.2.50 respectively, besides increasing fixed charges. For public lighting, a hike of 50 paise per unit has been made. DERC has also decided to charge DMRC a new monthly demand charge of Rs.75 per kVA.

DERC statement

In a statement, DERC said that after examining the petitions filed by the private power distribution firms and generation companies, the sectoral revenue gap for 2005-06 worked out at Rs.320 crores. This figure came after taking into account the Government support for Delhi Transco Limited amounting to Rs.138 crores.

DERC has asked all discoms to submit detailed monthly figures of their transmission losses. They have also been asked to accept payments only through account payee cheques or demand drafts for any payment over Rs.4,000 besides maintaining proper cost records.

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