New Delhi: Ahead of the fast-approaching deadline of the water bill amnesty scheme, several Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) have separately written to the Delhi government seeking an extension and flagging issues in the existing relief mechanism, including cases of inflated “average bills”, no relief from wrongly calculated base bill amounts, and the obsolete billing software not reflecting payments that have been made.
Under the Late Payment Surcharge (LPSC) Waiver Scheme, launched in October, there is a 100% waiver on late payment charges if outstanding principal water bills are settled by 31 January 2026. Payments can be made as a lump sum or in instalments, with the benefit applying only once the principal amount has been fully paid.
From 1 February 2026 to 31 March 2026, there will only be a 70% waiver on late payment charges. At the time of the scheme’s launch on October 14, 2025, unpaid dues from commercial consumers amounted to around ₹66,000 crore and approximately ₹15,000 crore from domestic consumers.
In a letter to water minister Parvesh Verma, dated January 28, the North Delhi Residents Welfare Federation has urged the government to extend the scheme to March 31. “NDRWF has passed the resolution to request Delhi Government to extent DJB water bill payment along with 100% LPC up to 31st March 2026 instead of 31st January,” said the letter, signed by Ashok Bhasin, who heads the federation.
It added, “Many consumers don’t know about part payment till date. You are also requested to give wide publicity to the information that consumers may be allow to submit payment in three parts before 31st March 2026.”
{{/usCountry}}It added, “Many consumers don’t know about part payment till date. You are also requested to give wide publicity to the information that consumers may be allow to submit payment in three parts before 31st March 2026.”
{{/usCountry}}In another letter to the minister, the United Residents of Delhi (URD) flagged flaws with the billing under the waiver scheme. URD is a group of RWAs from various parts of the city.
According to communication, bills were being sent to consumers even if their water consumption is not being recorded for some reason, such as faulty or stolen water metres, or if they are out of town.
“In such cases, they are continuously sent bills based on an estimated consumption of 22 kiloliters through average billing, even though they are not consuming that much water,” it said.
In the letter, URD general secretary Saurabh Gandhi further said Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials were not accepting applications to have their bills adjusted based on actual consumption instead of average billing. “Citizens are also requesting that they are willing to install a new metre and pay the bill according to their actual consumption, but the officials are refusing to grant any such relief which is causing undue hardship,” he added.
The federation said, in addition to an extension for the waiver scheme, the government address “the exploitation in the name of average billing and ensuring that bills are based on actual consumption”.
DJB did not respond to HT’s requests for comment.
On January 9, HT reported that the response to the LPSC scheme was lukewarm, with very few consumers opting for it. An internal assessment by the DJB also found that around 60% of its consumers are not receiving physical water bills at home.
Atul Goel, United RWAs Joint Action, Delhi (URJA) president, said, “Average billing has been turned into an exploitative exercise. Bills in lakhs are being received after gaps by the metre readers. Government can decide the bills based on number of members in households or any rational parameters... The scheme should be extended and reformed.”