With the power regulator on Wednesday in Delhi, most of the electricity consumers living in the city are going to see their bills declining. As per to the Delhi’s power regulator, the fixed charges for most of the domestic connections will reduce by up to 84%.
The fixed charge is basically the cost a consumer has to pay irrespective of quantum of power consumed. And this new power tariffs are not any future plans but instead it is going to be effective from this month only i.e., from August 1.
Previously this year, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), a quasi-judicial independent body has increased the fixed charge across all categories.
The 3.8 %surcharge on power bills, on the other hand, which goes towards paying pension to previous employees of power utilities, carries on untouched. Also, the regulatory surcharge too remains at 8%.
Here’s full list of revised rates. See what you have to pay now compared to what you were paying before.
| Load | Units | Existing bills in 2019 (in Rs) | New bills in 2019 (in Rs) |
| 1kw | 50 | 128 | 0 |
| 1kw | 100 | 211 | 0 |
| 1kw | 200 | 477 | 0 |
| 2kw | 200 | 622 | 0 |
| 2kw | 250 | 797 | 252 |
| 2kw | 300 | 971 | 526 |
| 2kw | 350 | 1,145 | 801 |
| 2kw | 400 | 1,320 | 1,075 |
| 3kw | 200 | 820 | 0 |
| 3kw | 250 | 994 | 380 |
| 3kw | 300 | 1,169 | 654 |
| 3kw | 350 | 1,343 | 929 |
| 3kw | 400 | 1,517 | 1,203 |
| 4kw | 200 | 983 | 0 |
| 4kw | 250 | 1,157 | 438 |
| 4kw | 300 | 1,331 | 712 |
| 4kw | 350 | 1,506 | 987 |
| 4kw | 400 | 1,680 | 1,261 |
| 5kw | 200 | 1,146 | 0 |
| 5kw | 300 | 1,494 | 771 |
| 5kw | 400 | 1,843 | 1,319 |
| 5kw | 500 | 3,435 | 2,912 |
| 5kw | 600 | 4,228 | 3,705 |
| 5kw | 800 | 5,813 | 5,290 |
| 10kw | 1,200 | 10,448 | 9,576 |
| 15kw | 2,000 | 19,025 | 17,717 |
For the year 2019-2020, DERC chairperson Justice (retired) SS Chauhan declared the new tariff order. In Delhi there are at least 4.9 million domestic power consumers and, as per to the DERC chief, 98% of the households in the city are going to end up saving some of the money on their monthly electricity bills with the new tariff order.
On the other hand, DERC kept same energy charges for all the categories, apart from for those who consume more than 1,200 units per month. If there is any household in the city whose electricity consumption go beyond 1,200 units a month then they will have to pay extra 25 paise per unit.
SS Chauhan said, “Out of 49 lakh (4.9 million) consumers, only about 64,000 households have a power consumption of more than 1,200 units a month. Also, there are only about 16,000 households who have a sanctioned load of more than 15kW, the category for which we have kept the fixed charges unchanged. So, it is safe to say that the majority of Delhiites will end up saving (money) with this year’s tariff order,”
The Chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, also congratulated the residents, saying Delhi had the lowest power tariffs in the whole country and was the only city with 24×7 electricity supply.
The BJP on the other hand responded to the order by challenging that Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government pay back Rs. 7,000 crore that has been collected as fixed charges earlier.
Delhi is going to have elections next year and in the polls that were conducted in 2015 elections, the AAP had promised to reduce the power tariffs by half. From the past four years and more, the energy charges have not been increased, but there is a rise in the surcharge and fixed charges.
Chauhan also said in the statement that the fixed charge up to 2 kilowatts (kW) has been reduced to Rs. 20 from Rs. 125, while on the other hand, the charge more than 2 kW and up to 5kW has been dropped to Rs. 50 from Rs. 140. For those who are having an authorized load of more than 5kW and up to 15kW, then the charge is going to be Rs. 100 as a replacement for Rs. 175.
