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New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Delhi Power minister Ashish Sood on Monday said that the Delhi government will carry out a CAG audit of discoms in the city over the repayment of dues amounting to Rs 38,000 crore.
Delhi’s power regulator DERC in an affidavit to Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (APTEL) filed in January, proposed liquidation of the regulatory assets from April 1.
Regulatory assets are the difference between the cost incurred by discoms in supply power to consumers and the annual revenue collected. It is realised through a regulatory asset surcharge added to the electricity bills of power consumers.
Sources in Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) said meetings were underway on the issue and a final decision regarding tariff revision
will be taken on Wednesday.
Sood asserted that the government is committed to protecting interests of power consumers and will not allow any extra burden on them.
“We will conduct a CAG audit of discoms. The regulatory asset issue was created during the previous government in Delhi. How did discoms function for so many years if they were running into losses and accumulating dues of such amount,” Sood told PTI.
He added that the Delhi government will explore all options, including approaching the Centre for help in this regard.
The Supreme Court in August last year directed for payment of regulatory assets, including carrying cost (interest) to the three power discoms in Delhi.
The regulatory assets of discoms have piled up due to no tariff hike after 2014-15, officials said.
As per DERC’s affidavit to APTEL, total regulatory assets to be recovered stand at Rs 38,552 crore. Delays have a significant cost, with interest burden rising by around Rs 15 crore per day, they said.
As per the DERC filing, the outstanding regulatory asset amount includes Rs 19,174 crore for BRPL, Rs 12,333 crore for BYPL and Rs 7,046 crore for TPDDL. The amounts are approved expenditures incurred by discoms for supplying electricity.
The court had also directed DERC to prepare a recovery plan, account for carrying costs (interest) and conduct a detailed audit explaining the prolonged delay in cost recovery.
According to the court order, dues are to be cleared over a period of seven years — April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2031. PTI VIT TRB
