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No reason to hike power tariff, DERC told

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 16. The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has told the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission that there is no justification for any further increase in power tariff as it is already on the higher side.

In its petition filed before the Commission, the PHDCCI said Delhi Transco had projected a revenue gap of Rs. 846 crores for the current fiscal year which would translate into a 20-25 per cent increase in bulk tariff.

``This would ultimately mean a substantial increase in retail tariff payable by consumers,'' it said. The petition was submitted by the PHDCCI in response to the Annual Revenue Requirement filed by Delhi Transco and the three private discoms before the Regulatory Commission, which will determine the power tariff for this year.

Calling for a close scrutiny of the ARRs of these companies, the PHDCCI suggested that their expenses needed to be cut down on general overheads and salaries so as to reduce the likely burden on the power tariff. Notably, at a press conference early this week, BJP leader Vijender Kumar had alleged that the discoms were giving out inflated and misleading figures on account of salary and general expenses to impress upon the Commission the need to increase the power tariff. He said that two employees of Tata Power were showed in the ARR as receiving a monthly salary of more than Rs. 25 lakhs and another six more than Rs. 15 lakhs per month.

``The desirability of providing a 16 per cent return on the discoms at a time when the interest rates are falling down needs to be checked,'' the PHDCCI asserted.

Commenting on the ARRs of the discoms, the PHDCCI called for complete information on the reduction in technical and commercial losses achieved by these companies because of the improvement in metering and billing systems introduced by them. "Reduction in losses would obviously reduce the revenue requirement which would obviate/reduce the need for increasing tariff,'' the petition said.

The PHDCCI has also urged the Regulatory Commission to look at the collection efficiency of the discoms. "Some benchmark needs to be introduced for the level of collection efficiency. There is also a need to assess the desirability of high interest funding for any plans to be undertaken by discoms in the coming year.''

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