No tariff hike for now: Delhi Power Sec

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) Delhi Power Secretary Rakesh Mehta today said it is too early to say if there will be an electricity tariff hike in the national capital, in the light of Supreme Court's order today.

''It is too early to say if there will be any power tariff hike.

One has to remember that tariff in decided by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and not the Delhi government,'' he told UNI.

DERC would have a meeting to consider any tariff hike in three months from now, he added.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court held that the DERC could not arbitrarily reduce the depreciation value from 6.9 per cent to 3.7 per cent, to which the discoms were entitled.

A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia upheld an order of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity that set aside the order of the DERC reducing the depreciation value.

The private power distribution companies (distcoms) were demanding higher depreciation value ever since they took over supplying electricity from the state-owned Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking.

The higher rate of depreciation would ensure quicker replacement of equipment.

However, the difference, between to the two depreciation values, would work out to over Rs 300 crore that could either be paid by the Delhi government or recovered from the consumers by hiking tariffs.

UNI