Delhi Electricity Regulator to Review Fuel Surcharge, Tariff May Rise in November

New Delhi: Power tariff in the city may go up next month as the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) 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While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5 per cent for domestic consumers, the regulator had in July withdrawn the power purchase adjustment cost (PPAC) of around 8 per cent till October.

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

"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," he 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 distribution companies 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 per cent.

While hiking the power tariff by up to 7.5 per cent for domestic consumers, DERC had in July withdrawn PPAC of around 8 per cent for three months.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 per cent for BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, 6 per cent for BSES Rajdhani and 7 per cent 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.