Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday said that the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) was free to decide the power tariff for the city. The chief minister’s comment came after the Delhi high court recently stated that the direction of the city government, which stalled the announcement of the tariff order last year, was uncalled for.
The DERC, which is an autonomous body, is now, however, left with just one member, after the chairman retired last year followed by another member’s retirement recently. A committee is now looking into recruitment and selection of the chairman and the member for which applications had been invited.
Ms Dikshit, when asked about the demands of the private power distribution companies (discoms) for substantially raising the power tariff in the city, stated that it was up to the DERC to decide the new power tariff for the city.
The DERC last year had reportedly been making last minute preparations to reduce the power tariff, as the regulatory body had apparently found the discoms making healthy profits apart from sitting on cash reserves.
However, after the city government direction stalling the announcement of the new tariff, Ms Dikshit had stated that there would be no power tariff hike in the last financial year.