Delhi BJP protests against ‘electricity cost hike’
Delhi BJP leaders protest AAP-led Delhi govt's proposed electricity rate hike, demand Kejriwal's resignation. AAP denies hike, cites DERC order on PPAC.
Leaders of the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday protested the “hike in electricity rates proposed by the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government” at ITO and demanded the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over the matter.
BJP alleged that the price was being increased to increase the power purchase adjustment cost (PPAC), which will result in costlier bills. The party also demanded the withdrawal of PPAC.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that the AAP government increased PPAC cost by up to 8.75% only recently. “Currently a total of 37% PPAC is charged on electricity bills in Delhi. With up to 8.75% further planned hike, the total PPAC on electricity tariff will go up to nearly 46% and make electricity very costly in the city. The Delhi government must immediately roll back the proposed hike and Kejriwal should resign,” said Sachdeva.
Responding to the allegations, the AAP accused the BJP of “misleading the people by spreading rumors” that electricity prices have been increased in Delhi.
“Wherever BJP is in power, those states provide the most expensive electricity in the country... electricity is the cheapest in Delhi due to honest governance of AAP. The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission’s order regarding PPAC states that the current PPAC will remain the same and no more charges will be made. But, the discoms have provision in Electricity Act 2003 that allows them to increase PPAC by up to 10% from that prescribed by DERC in case of high cost of power purchase. This provision is in place from 2003,” AAP said in a statement.
PPAC is the surcharge component in power bills provided by electricity regulatory commissions to meet additional costs due to variations in power purchase costs incurred by the discoms. PPAC rate can be revised four times a year or once every quarter and remains valid for three months.
Sachdeva added that in 2011 the then Sheila Dikshit government imposed 1.5% PPAC for the first time but from 2014 to 2015 the PPAC was not charged on electricity bills due to interventions by then power minister Piyush Goyal. However, the Kejriwal government re-imposed it in 2015.
“Kejriwal never allowed the per-unit rate of electricity to increase but increased the PPAC, which was merely 1.7% in 2015, to 37% today. He gave PPAC legal sanctity by making it a part of the business regulation plan for calculating power traffic in Delhi. Similarly, the pension surcharge, which was 1% in 2015, is now 7.5%. Meter charges and load surcharges have tripled during Kejriwal’s 10-year tenure,” Sachdeva added.
BJP members also brought electricity bills from their homes and burned them during the protest. They also broke through police barricades and moved towards ITO, after which the Delhi Police detained some of them, including Sachdeva.