New Delhi, January 02: Fifty eight applicants, including eight IAS officials and a retired High Court judge, are in the fray for the post of chairman of Delhi”s power regulator DERC.
The process of appointing a new chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) will be completed by early next month following which the regulator is expected to finalise revised power tariff for the year 2011-12.
The Commission has been headless since the retirement of former chairman Berjinder Singh in September last year and the first major task of the new chief would be to finalise a revised tariff.
A panel comprising Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, CERC chairman Pramod Deo and a Delhi High Court judge is currently scrutinising the applications, a top official of Delhi Government said, adding that the process is likely to be over by early next month.
The contenders for the top post include several top officials in the city government as well as members of various powerful committees and commissions, he said.
Sources in the Commission said the process for announcing a new tariff structure for the year will be finalised after the appointment of a new chairman.
Contrary to its earlier stand, two members of the Commission in a letter to the Government last month had justified the demand of private discoms to hike the power tariff, triggering speculation that the rates may be hiked soon.
The DERC in its letter had said the tariff during previous years has not been cost reflective because of which the three private discoms had to resort to extensive borrowing to sustain their operations.
However, the Commission”s current stand contradicts its decision to go for a cut down of the tariff in May this year with the then chairman Singh emphasising that the discoms have been earning healthy profit.
Although DERC had decided to bring down the tariff, the city Government using a special power had stalled the move of the regulator, apparently coming under pressure from the discoms.
The DERC, which was making last minute preparations to announce the new tariff after receiving the directive on May 4 last year, had indicated that it had planned to cut down the tariff by 20 to 25 per cent as discoms would have a surplus of around Rs 4,000 crore if the existing tariff was not tinkered with.
“The entire issue of tariff will be deliberated upon after appointment of the new chairman,” sources said.
They said even if the Commission decides to hike the tariff, it “should not be more than five per cent” as discoms have been earning a lot by selling excess power to neighbouring states.
——–PTI