Delhi Cong stages protests over power tariff hike, slams Kejriwal govt

New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) Delhi Congress leaders and workers on Wednesday held protests at over 55 locations across the national capital against power tariff hike by discoms.

The protesters were carrying placards and raised slogans against the AAP-led Delhi government, accusing it of colluding with the discoms in the city.

Addressing party workers and public outside the Mandi House metro station, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav claimed that the Kejriwal government, which promised to halve power rates, has doubled them in the past decade through backdoor measures, allowing discoms to hike the power purchase adjustment charge by over nine percent.

During the Congress regime, the average per unit rate was around Rs 5, which has now gone up to Rs 10 per unit. But the rate should have been Rs 2.50 if Kejriwal had fulfilled his promise of giving power at half the rate, he claimed.

The Congress leader said that this sharp increase in the power tariff has put heavy financial burden on shopkeepers, small and medium industrial units and common households.

The Kejriwal government has been allowing the power companies to quietly hike PPAC surcharge by six to 10 per cent every year to put additional financial burden on the electricity consumers for the past 10 years, Yadav alleged.

He also claimed that the Congress government, during its 15-year tenure, made nominal power hikes only four times, but under the Kejriwal government, the discoms were given a free hand to increase the power tariff in the name of PPAC surcharge, which has put an unbearable financial burden on the power consumers.

PPAC is a surcharge to cover fluctuations in power purchase costs incurred by the discoms. It saw an increase of 6.15 per cent to 8.75 per cent this year.

The discoms in the city have revised the PPAC in the range of 6.75 per cent to 8.75 per cent, officials had said last week.

The power purchase cost is dependent upon the prices of coal and other fuels used by generation companies and these prices recently witnessed a significant increase, according to officials. PTI NIT RPA