220,000 availed subsidy on water bills this year: Delhi govt

A DJB official, on condition of anonymity, said that under this scheme, a consumer can pay the original base amount of old bills without worrying about the late fee

More than 220,000 customers have availed of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) scheme to avail a 100% waiver on late payment surcharge as on December 12, data from the Delhi government body shows.

The Delhi Jal Board has more than 2,650,000 consumer connections of which 220,000 consumers availed the government’s 20KL free water scheme. (HT Photo)

The scheme will be applicable on all pending water bills till September 30, and is for customers who clear their arrears by December 31. This is the fifth such programme announced by the DJB over the last 10 years.

A DJB official, on condition of anonymity, said that under this scheme, a consumer can pay the original base amount of old bills without worrying about the late fee. “While the consumers who clear their outstanding arrears till December 31 will get 100% waiver on late payment surcharge, those who opt to make payments on outstanding arrears between January 1, 2023 and March 31, 2023 will be provided 75% waiver,” the official said.

The DJB has around 2,650,000 consumer connections, of which around 1,800,000 consumers avail of the government’s 20KL free water scheme. Data from the water utility shows that there are around 2.2 million active water connections with functional metres in Delhi, covering around 93% of households in the city.

As per the existing billing arrangement, a customer is charged a late payment surcharge of 5% in the next billing cycle. “With 5% late fees on monthly bills, over the period of one financial year, the total amount increases significantly,” the DJB official said.

According to DJB data, a total of 224,072 customers have availed rebates under this scheme as of December 12, with a claimed amount of ₹188.91 crore. However, the board has only collected revenue of ₹76 crore so far.

A senior DJB official said that the last such scheme was operational in the previous financial year, and customers owed the board ₹27,628.79 crore in accumulated water bill amounts. “Of this amount, the principal component of the bills was just ₹5591.7 crore while the late payment surcharge was around ₹22037 crore. The arrear amount was rising on a very high rate while the principal amount is very less,” the official said.

For 2022, the water utility has set a target of collecting ₹1950 crore in revenue with a collection efficiency of 85%, the 2022 outcome budget of the government states.