Ajay Maken alleges scam in AAP’s free power scheme

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken, while talking to the media and members of city resident welfare associations, said that the average billed rate (ABR) in Delhi in 2018-19 is higher in comparison to other states.

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken on Thursday alleged that the AAP government was “misleading” citizens by claiming that power tariffs in the national capital were lowest in the country.

Former Union Minister and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Ajay Maken and others present a document titled 'The Truth of Power Sector in Delhi,' at Constitution Club, in New Delhi. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

Maken also accused the Delhi government of benefitting the power discoms through hike in tariff as well as by proving power subsidy.

Replying to Maken’s allegations, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP in Rajya Sabha, Sanjay Singh, said that the Congress leader was “lying” and had “not done his homework”.

Maken, while talking to the media and members of city resident welfare associations, said that the average billed rate (ABR) in Delhi in 2018-19 is higher in comparison to other states.

“ABR is the average per unit rate of electricity billed for one category of customers or the entire electricity distributed by a utility. This includes both fixed and variable charges. It may or may not include various surcharges. Currently, the bills generated are confusing and riddled with terms such as Pension Trust (PT) surcharge, PR surcharge etc and varies for different category of consumers,” said Maken, who served as Delhi’s power minister between 2001 and 2003.

Maken alleged that the ABR in the national capital in 2018-19 was Rs 8.45 as compared to Rs 7.36 in 2013-14. Thus, the power tariff increased by Rs 1.09 in the last 5 years, the senior Congress leader said.

Maken said, “The categorisation of consumers is a gray area and the government should enure proper audit of consumer categories. They have conveniently picked up the category with the lowest slab of power usage to wrongly claim that there is an reduction in power tariff.”

He alleged that the government was helping the discoms benefit. “ On account of these tariff hikes, the power discoms have collected an additional revenue of Rs 9,999.25crore over the past five years,” he said. He also said that in the name of power subsidy, Rs 8,532crore has been given to private companies.

To make his point, the former power minister compared Delhi’s ABRs with other states in the last fiscal. As per Maken, the ABR in Madhya Pradesh was Rs 6.59, Rs 6.63 in Punjab, Rs 7.04 in Rajasthan, Rs 7.05 in Haryana and Rs 7.37 in Bengaluru.

AAP’s Sanjay Singh called Maken’s allegations “baseless” and accused him of “spreading lies”. Singh said that Delhi is the only city where up to 200 units of electricity is free every month. “Consumers have to pay Rs 910 per month for 200 units of electricity in Haryana, Rs 1,400 in Maharashtra, Rs 1,350 in Karnataka, Rs 1,200 in Madhya Pradesh, Rs 1,320 in Punjab and Rs 1,588 in Rajasthan,” he argued.

Singh added, “The Congress government brought private discoms to Delhi. After the AAP government came to power in Delhi, electricity tariffs have been consistently reduced since 2015.”

The Congress has been trying to corner the state government on the issue of power tariffs with an eye on the assembly elections scheduled next year. “The AAP government must give subsidies to consumers through direct bank transfers. When LPG and kerosene subsidies can be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries, why cannot we do the same in the case of electricity in Delhi,” said Maken, who has also filed an RTI seeking details of consumers who have received subsidies post December 2013.

Former Delhi power secretary Rakesh Mehta, said, “Subsidies are meant to be given as a last resort only to the poor. By giving subsidies, the government is increasing inefficiency in the system by eliminating all competition among the distributors, such so that they don’t have any incentive to perform.”

Maken released a 16-page report titled ‘Truth of Power Sector in Delhi’