New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party swept to power this month with cheaper electricity being one of the major promises.
Arvind Kejriwal-led govt is trying hard to fulfill the poll promises made by AAP. The Kejriwal government has asked the Centre for a coal block that will help a private company set up a giant plant to supply adequate and affordable electricity to the city.
Delhi's Power Minister Satyendra Jain told Economic Times that his govt has asked the Union government to allot a coal block.
People in Delhi have complained about rising power bills although distribution companies say that about 80% of the tariff they collect goes to meet the cost of electricity.
Jain said the state administration had major plans to reform the sector and expand power generation from both renewable and conventional sources.
"We have requested the GoI (government of India) to give a coal block to us, wherever it may be available. We will soon send a formal request to them about this. Our plan is to have 4,000 mw powers of our own over the next four-five years," he said.
Making things difficult for the Kejriwal govt on power tariff front, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is likely to order a hike in the electricity tariffs by around 10-15%. The step will be taken in order to pay increased cost of discoms.
Last November, Delhities were spared with increase in electricity cost as DERC withdrew its order on power purchase adjustment charges (PDAC) just a day after its announcement. But the hike is likely to come back and hit city residents.
Estimates are that the hike in tariff due to PPAC would be approximately 10%-15%. This apart, DERC also hinted that scrutiny of the tariff petitions of discoms for 2015-16 is underway and revised tariffs are likely to be announced by April. If DERC does grant an increase in tariffs, the subsidy amount that AAP would have to shell out to slash tariffs by the promised 50% would also increase substantially.
Satyendra Jain said the state administration had major plans to reform the sector and expand power generation but increase in tariff by DERC would surely create big troubles for them.
According to some media reports, apart from reinstatement of the withdrawn PPAC order of November, discoms BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power Delhi have submitted a fresh petition last month asking for fuel charges for the period October-December, 2014. The November order that was withdrawn by the Commission was for the July-September quarter.
Discoms claim that getting no PPAC charges for the last few months had severely affected their cash flow and BSES is the most affected one. The discoms are banking heavily on PPAC charges and a coming tariff hike to improve their financial situation.
It's going to be a challenge for the government to keep its promise of lower electricity tariffs.
