Fight to lower power costs reaches HC

The battle to finalise power costs for Delhiites has for the first time reached the courts, almost three months after Delhi government prohibited the Capital’s power regulator from releasing fresh rates of electricity supply.

The battle to finalise power costs for Delhiites has for the first time reached the courts, almost three months after Delhi government prohibited the Capital’s power regulator from releasing fresh rates of electricity supply. Source say the new tariff structure would have actually reduced the cost of power for Delhiites by a bit.

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On Wednesday, a division bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan admitted a public-interest litigation that sought the quashing of the contentious Delhi government order and releasing of the tariff structure.

The government had on May 3 stalled the tariff order and sought “statutory advice” from Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on the claims of the three discoms — Anil Ambani’s Reliance-backed BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata-powered North Delhi Power Limited — that their financial health was in decay.

But DERC had later told the government the discoms were sitting on a combined cash profit of over Rs 1,000 crore. The DERC has also sought auditing of the discoms’ accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.