Govt put surcharge burden on people to help discoms: Cong

The party alleged that the government made people living in rented accommodations install separate power meters in the name of transparency.

The Congress on Saturday alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government put “unnecessary burden” on people by increasing fixed charges and surcharge in the electricity bills to benefit discoms.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said that the DERC had increased the fixed charge component of power tariff last year “without consulting” the Delhi government. (HTPhotos)

The party alleged that the government made people living in rented accommodations install separate power meters in the name of transparency. But, the fixed charges were increased by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority (DERC), which is the authority for fixing power consumption rates in Delhi, that in turn benefitted discoms, alleged Sheila Dikshit, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief.

A delegation of senior party leaders led by Dikshit has sought time from Kejriwal on Monday to demand that consumers must not be asked to pay electricity bills for the next six months. It has also demanded the Delhi government should refund the money collected by the discoms in the name of fixed charges.

“Kejriwal imposed an unnecessary burden on people by enacting a drama of installing lakhs of meters in the city just to benefit power distribution companies,” said Diskhit, at a press conference along with the three working presidents at the DPCC office. “In the name of fixed charges, the government collected crores of rupees and gave it to power discoms,” she alleged.

Delhi Congress working president and former power minister in Dikshit’s cabinet, Haroon Yusuf, accused the Kejriwal government of “fooling people” and getting them to install lakhs of meters, in particular, in slum clusters and unauthourised colonies.

The Delhi CM during a public meeting on June 1 had said that the DERC had increased the fixed charge component of power tariff last year “without consulting” the Delhi government.

AAP MLA and party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “This silly suggestion is coming from a person (Dikshit) who was CM of Delhi for 15 years. During her tenure, electricity charges were hiked every year. The Delhi government has ensured that electricity rates were reduced to 50%. Even though Delhi does produce electricity, still for last four years, the unit price has remained same. Congress still has government in few states; we challenge them to show us one state where electricity charges are less than Delhi.”

On Friday the BJP had also alleged that the Kejriwal government was “looting” the people of Delhi in connivance with the power companies by hiking the fixed charges.