AAP claims credit, oppn says power cos will gain

NEW TARIFFS Govt says there will be reduction in all power bills by 7%8%

NEWDELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday claimed credit for “reducing bills of every consumer” in the city, after the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission came out with power tariffs that will be applicable from next month.

The Delhi government said residents of the city will not have to pay more despite a hike in the fixed charges. “The new power tariff will on an average reduce the electricity bills of every consumer by 7% to 8%. I have done the calculation and nobody’s bills will increase,” state power minister Satyendar Jain told the Assembly hours after the power regulator announced new tariffs.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Delhiites and said the capital has the lowest electricity rates in the entire country. “Delhi has the lowest electricity rates. The people of Delhi voted for an honest government. They are happy today,” he tweeted.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the power subsidy of Rs 2 and Rs 2.975 per unit, for those who consume up to 400 units, will continue in the next financial year. However, officials said that the proposal to extend the subsidy for another year is yet to be cleared by the Cabinet.

“It will be put up in the Cabinet next week hopefully. Only after that, the subsidy will be renewed for 2018-19. In any case, the first bill under the new tariff will come only in May. So we have ample time,” said an official from the power department.

Leader of Opposition, Vijender Gupta said that the government was helping the power companies benefit by increasing the fixed charges by five to seven times. “Earlier also the AAP government had increased surcharge by 3.7% and now they have raised fixed charges. This move will inflate the power bills and we are against this hike. The government is helping the power companies,” Gupta said.

Explaining the reason for increasing the fixed charges, the power minister said the Central government had implemented a 50 paise/unit hike on power production at power plants in the fixed charge category.

“Due to the hike in the fixed charges, the power tariff could have gone up significantly, but the AAP government reduced energy charges. If a consumer having 1KW meter consumes up

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to 200 units, he would have to pay Rs 115 less now,” Jain said, while citing a few other examples.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari, however, demanded withdrawal of the fixed charges. Tiwari said that whatever benefits in power tariffs had come to the consumers, it was because of a sustained campaign by consumer organizations and his party.

“In fact by not opposing the fixed charge hike, the Kejriwal government has denied consumers full benefit of the tariff reduction and people will end up paying more,” he said.

The AAP government, how-

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ever, alleged that the party was “misleading” people by saying power bills would increase.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Maken also criticised the AAP for the massive increase in the fixed charges per month.

He said it would put an additional burden of ₹1,510 crore on the consumers by way of tariff and surcharge.

“The government has hit the common people the hardest with the massive increase in fixed charges, as the Delhi government has “decreased” the power subsidy to the poor by 23.6 per cent,” he said.

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