Good news for Delhi residents! Electricity rates reduced ahead of summer

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) slashed power charges for consumers by up to 32% for 2018-19. The revised rates, applicable from April 1, will reduce the average electricity bills for all categories of consumers in the national capital, it said in a statement.

However, the regulator of the national capital's power sector, hiked the fixed charges to Rs 125 per kW per month to Rs 250 per kW per month. The existing rates were Rs 20per kW per month to Rs 100 per kW per month. Industry experts were of the opinion that the fixed charges form only a small part of the total bill and, therefore, the consumer will save more on the net outgo.

The commission has introduced a new tariff plan - a daytime tariff for consumers, barring domestic usage. Under this, the rates will vary as per peak and off-peak demand. The surcharge levied on energy charges during peak hours will be 20%. A rebate of 20% will be applicable in off-peak hours.

The rates have also been revised for non-domestic and industrial customers. It will be Rs 8 a unit and Rs 7.5 a unit across slabs, respectively.

Under the new set of tariffs applicable for 2018-19, domestic power consumption up to 200 units per month has been reduced to Rs 3 per unit. For users consuming  200-400 units of electricity per month, the rate has been revised to Rs 4.50 per unit, Rs 1.45 lesser than before.

Tariffs for next bracket, i.e. 401- 800 units per month, have been changed to Rs 6.5 per unit against previous tariff of Rs 7.30 per unit.

The commission has floated a new slab for "paying guests" up to load of 2kW. Also, to encourage the use of e-rickshaws and e-vehicles, the rates are unchanged at  Rs 8 per unit.

The tariff revision has come just before the summer months, when Delhi's demand is expected to touch 7,000MW this year.

DERC sources quoted by news reports said with the new tariffs, the three distribution companies in Delhi - BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd - are expected to earn a revenue of Rs 9,161 crore, Rs 5,013 crore and Rs 6,803 crore, respectively, in 2018-19.

This is the first revision in past five years. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in power since 2014, had slashed power rates by half for lower consumption bands.