Various Resident Welfare Associations, participating in the hearing, strongly opposed any further hike in power tariff arguing that all the three private discoms have been making "huge profits".
The hearing is taking place as part of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission's tariff fixation process for the current year which is expected to be announced next month.
All the three private discoms -- BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited have already filed their tariff petition before the commission demanding substantial hike in electricity rates citing severe financial losses.
Chief Executive Officer of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited Praveer Sinha said the company has accumulated a loss of over Rs 4,000 crore and it would be difficult for it to run the operation if tariff was not hiked.
"The DERC must hike the tariff as we are incurring huge losses due to rise in power purchase cost," he said.
Following sustained demands by the power distribution companies, the power regulator had hiked the tariff by nearly 22 per cent for almost all categories of consumers in September last year.
In February this year, the DERC has increased the tariff by five per cent to adjust the power purchase cost of the discoms.
Several RWAs have indicated that they will strongly oppose any hike in tariff during the public hearing.
"We have placed before the DERC papers proving that discoms are making huge profits," said Rajiv Kakria of GK-I Resident Welfare Association. PTI MPB
