The Delhi Cabinet wants differential power tariff in the peak and off peak periods for the consumers of the city. On Monday, it decided that different tariff slab for different hours would not only help conserve energy but also its judicious use.
The Cabinet asked the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to explore how and when peak and off peak tariff could be introduced. “This will benefit the consumers who can use power guzzling gadgets during the off peak hours,” Power Minister Haroon Yusuf said after the Cabinet meeting.
Yusuf said the night tariff could come down significantly following the implementation of the scheme. Asked when will the consumers get the benefits and what would be the off peak tariff, he said it would take some time for the DERC to finalise the scheme. “The meters would have to be calibrated and other logistics put in place before the tariff is fixed,” he said.
The minister said in the peak hours like mornings in the winter and day time in the summers, the demand for power is very high. “On several occasions, the government had to purchase energy at high cost in the peak hours to meet the shortage. With this, we aim to rationalise the power consumption pattern,” he said.
Called Time of Day (TOD) metering system, the scheme envisages that domestic consumers who use power during off-peak hours would be given a discount. Simply put, the consumers would have to heat up their geysers late in the night and use the washing machine in the late hours to avail of the benefits. The consumers will have to get an electronic meter fitted with a pre-programmed chip that records demand, time and energy usage.
{{/usCountry}}Called Time of Day (TOD) metering system, the scheme envisages that domestic consumers who use power during off-peak hours would be given a discount. Simply put, the consumers would have to heat up their geysers late in the night and use the washing machine in the late hours to avail of the benefits. The consumers will have to get an electronic meter fitted with a pre-programmed chip that records demand, time and energy usage.
{{/usCountry}}Asked whether the tariff for the consumers would increase in the peak period, Yusuf replied in the negative. “We are not in favour of any increase in tariff during the peak period,” the minister added.
When implemented, Delhi would be the first state in the country to have differential power tariff for domestic consumers. At present TOD is already in place in states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttaranchal for commercial and industrial users.
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