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BSES warns consumers against half-payment of power bills

Staff Reporter

`Tariff is fixed by DERC after considering many parameters, including theft'

NEW DELHI: The power distribution company BSES has cautioned its consumers against adhering to the advice of those who have been advocating payment of only 50 per cent of the electricity bills on the ground that "honest consumers need not pay for power theft done by others".

The company said: "BSES has no mandate to receive any payment if a consumer unilaterally deducts 50 per cent of the billed amount. Each and every consumer has to pay for the energy (electricity) he/she has consumed and as per tariff fixed by the honourable Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC)." Claiming that the propaganda was contrary to the law of the land and in direct contravention of the directives of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, the company said even the logic behind the campaign was "skewed and irresponsible".

The spokesperson said: "The tariff is fixed after considering many parameters, including theft. We would appeal to the consumers to help us eliminate the menace of theft, more so because Delhi, despite our efforts to minimise theft, remains the country's power theft Capital." Further, it was pointed out that while power theft in Mumbai and many other cities is in single digit, in Delhi it is now around 35 per cent. Since power privatisation in July 2002, BSES said it has undertaken around 37,000 anti-power theft raids and an electricity load of more than 1.9 lakh KW has been booked. The company claimed it has also over achieved the Aggregate Technical and Commercial loss reduction targets fixed by DERC -- both by minimising theft and through improvements and modernisation of its distribution system.

BSES said the DERC is the statutory authority to determine tariff in accordance with the provisions of Electricity Act, 2003, and it determines the retail supply tariffs payable by consumers after a due process of inviting responses from the public and holding public hearings and taking into account all relevant factors including the reduction in loss levels. It also clarified that the retail tariff was determined for an entire licensed area of a licensee and not parts of it and so all consumers in a licensed area have to pay the same tariff charge.

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