Power Minister Satyendar Jain repeatedly emphasised that the government will ensure that power tariff is not increased, "come what may". He alleged that the BJP was trying to effect a tariff hike through the back door.
Power tariff in Delhi has remained unchanged over the last two years. The last increase, of 5 per cent, was in 2014.
"We have made our calculation and submitted it to the DERC. We will make sure that there is no tariff hike even this year. The BJP is trying something opposite, which is to effect a hike," Jain said.
The aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) of the discoms have been pegged at: BSES Rajdhani - Rs 9,052 crore, BSES Yamuna - Rs 4,892 crore and Tata Power - Rs 7,680 crore.
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However, according to the discoms the figures should be more as the DERC has used their demands made last year to arrive at the ARRs.
Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta did raise this point during his intervention in the discussion over the matter.
Meanwhile, Jain also claimed that power tariff in the national capital will come down significantly if power purchase agreements with power generators, signed by the previous government, are cancelled.
Presently, the power tariff in Delhi is as follows: consumption up to 200 units - Rs 4/unit, for 200-400 units - Rs 5.80-5.90/unit, 400-800 units - Rs 7.30/unit. The exact rates vary after taking into account taxes and rebates.
Under the AAP government's flagship subsidy scheme, for consumption of up to 400 units, a discount of 50 per cent is given.