Rebates offered on electricity bills

The incentive to consumers comes after the power regulator found that revenue collection in the form of bill payments had witnessed a “steep fall” following the 21-day lockdown imposed last month.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has launched a rebate scheme of up to ₹220 for consumers who pay their electricity bills on time.

Since services such as metre readings by discom officials have been suspended owing to the lockdown, the DERC has also ordered that an additional rebate of ₹20 be given to those who furnish their metre readings on their own. (Abhinav Saha/Hindustan Times)

The incentive to consumers comes after the power regulator found that revenue collection in the form of bill payments had witnessed a “steep fall” ever since the nationwide 21-day lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

Under the scheme, which will be applicable for bills generated between March 24 and June 30, a consumer can avail of 1% of the bill amount (excluding arrears if any) or ₹200 (whichever is lower) if the payment is made within 1-7 days of the billing date. If the payment is made between 8-14 days of the billing date, the rebate will be 0.5% of the bill amount or ₹150 (whichever is lower).

Since services such as metre readings by discom officials have been suspended owing to the lockdown, the DERC has also ordered that an additional rebate of ₹20 be given to those who furnish their metre readings on their own.

However, there will be no incentive for those who make part payments of their bills.

A Delhi government official said that all these rebates will be in addition to the subsidy of up to ₹800, which it gives to domestic consumers who use up to 400 units of power a month.

“The ‘Janta Curfew’ on March 22 (Sunday) had seen a 10-15% reduction in the power demand as compared to March 15 (preceding Sunday) for different hours of the day. As the country goes under lockdown, further reduction in power demand is expected,” the order stated.

The DERC also asked the discoms to extend the due date for payment of electricity bills raised during the period starting from March 24, 2020 till June 30, 2020, by further two weeks.

The bills raised for this purpose shall have last date of the extended period as June 30, 2020, it stated.