The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission gave the national capital’s residents a real shock Tuesday by hiking power tariffs for domestic consumers by a staggering 24 per cent. “The hike will be effective from July 1,” DERC chairman P.D. Sudhakar announced.
Under the new rates, a domestic consumer will be charged `3.70 a unit for the first 200 units, then `4.80 for consumption between 200 and 400 units, and `6.40 per unit for usage beyond 400 units.
An additional fuel surcharge will further burden power bills. Commercial users face a 19 per cent increase.
Private discoms BSES Yamuna, BSES Rajdhani and TPDDL were demanding a hike in power tariff of 19 to 27 per cent, citing losses due to the difference between power purchase and distribution costs.
This is the third hike in power tariffs in the past 10 months. September 2011 saw a massive 22 per cent hike, while there was another five per cent hike as fuel surcharge in February this year. The past year has thus seen a total 50 per cent increase.
Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit had said Monday that DERC would have to take a “realistic view” while finalising the new rates.