Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel today slammed the
Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) for initiating the process to
hike power tariff in collusion with the power discoms. He said that there is no
need to raise power tariff as the BJP is convinced that power tariff in Delhi can easily be
slashed by 30%, which it will do when elected after the polls.
Shri Goel said, “The DERC is working in a doubtful manner to
hike power tariff in Delhi.
The consultants have been appointed and advertisement has been given for the
purpose. The BJP strongly condemns this attempt to hike power tariff. The party
is committed to reduction of power tariff by 30%, if elected.”
“The BJP has been raising the issue of transparency in tariff
setting by the DERC and also the process of tariff determination which has been
marred by various controversies. The fact that the Consultants appointed by the
DERC were also either Statutory Auditors or were working for one or the other
DISCOM constitutes a breach of trust on the part of the DERC. There is clear
conflict of interests on part of the consultants,” Shri Goel said.
Shri Goel further said, “The DERC seems to be in a hurry to hike
power tariff while the election is around the corner. Whatever policy decision
is to be taken regarding revision of power tariff should be taken by the new
government. But, the DERC’s action reflects collusion between the regulator,
which seems to be acting at the behest of the Congress government and the
private discoms.”
The BJP had raised the issue about 8 months ago, when Shri Vijay
Goel along with Member of State Advisory Committee of DERC Shri Anil Sood and
other experts met the DERC Chairman on March 23, 2013. The DERC Chairman then
admitted that the regulator committed mistake in the appointment of the
consultants and assured the delegation to rectify the mistake soon.
But, the advertisement released by the DERC on November 28, 2013
appearing in newspapers published from New
Delhi shows a totally casual and careless attitude of
the DERC. On one hand the DISCOMS are likely to submit the Aggregate Revenue
Requirements (ARR) and on the other, it is extending the date for submission of
Request for Proposal by the Consultants. This means the DERC is not at all
ready to review the ARR and undertake the exercise of True-Up.
Strangely the DERC has also diluted the qualification criteria
for appointment of consultants as per advertisement appearing on its web site,
where the columns ‘Position in Current assignment and Rate/Day or week’ have
been omitted by design to accommodate someone who did not qualify the earlier
criteria set by the DERC. This raises serious concern on credibility of the
DERC.
