DERC is the mask used for hike in power tariffs by Delhi Govt. : Goel

•  Delhi BJP dharna at DERC hearing, party delegation meets DERC 
• Power tariff in Delhi can be reduced by 30 per cent by an honest government : Goel

New Delhi, June 3: To protest yet another move by Delhi government to hike power tariffs in the city in blatant disregard of all norms and regulations, the Delhi BJP today staged a dharna at the DERC hearing for revision of power tariffs.

“DERC is a mask used by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her Congress colleagues to help private DISCOMS at the expense of citizens of Delhi who are being forced to brace up for yet another hike in power tariff,” Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel said at the dharna. Along with thousands of workers, several BJP leaders including party vice presidents Mohan Singh Bisht, Anita Arya (former MP), legislators Naresh Gaur, SCL Gupta, Ravinder Bansal, party general secretaries Ramesh Bidhuri, JayPrakash were present at dharna.

Shri Goel who met the DERC Chairperson and members in Jan Sunvai raised several questions in the open house which exposed the fudging of records by DISCOMS, inaction on part of the Delhi government and the clear inclination of the DERC towards accepting diktats of the Chief Minister to allow private power companies to hike power tariffs, do excessive billing and not follow the regulatory norms.

The DERC chairperson initially tried to give some lame excused but later on refused to respond to the questions raised by the Delhi BJP President who presented the case for initiating action against Power companies, putting a cap on tariffs and taking Delhi government to task for ‘selling away’ interests of the Delhi residents.

Presenting the case, Shri Goel who spoke for more than half an hour with the DERC members and chairperson told them, “DISCOMS have wrongly presented their regulatory assets (losses that are to be claimed from public through higher power tariffs) for year 2010-11 as Rs 5400 crore out of which DERC has already recognized Rs 3200 crore worth claims which had already resulted in power tariff hikes to the tune of 827 crores. Now when the rest of the claims are also being accepted, Delhi residents will have to suffer from almost four-fold increase in power tariffs. “

“The Chief Minister might put on hold this hike to control political backlash prior to assembly polls but the fact remains that once DERC has accepted these inflated claims, the hike in power tariff will be inevitable immediately after assembly polls. It is deplorable that the Delhi government is working so blatantly in favour of DISCOMS.”

“And the above mentioned hikes are only for regulatory claims in year 2010-11, just imagine what would happen when the regulatory claims for the subsequent years will be filed, accepted and as a result power tariff will be further hiked,” he added.

Shri Goel was informed by DERC that it has dropped international firm Price Waterhouse Coopers as its auditor subsequent to his objections raised on the grounds that the same firm is also auditor with Reliance.

“The removal of PwC after our objections is a clear proof of the unholy nexus between Delhi Govt., DISCOMS and DERC,” said Shri Goel. He demanded that as DERC is not capable of auditing these firms so an audit should be conducted through the CAG.

He reiterated the fact that an honest government can bring down the power tariff by no less than 30 per cent. “The BJP will implement this reduction of 30 per cent in power tariff when it comes to power in Delhi,” said Shri Goel.