Pressure is building on the Delhi government from across the political spectrum to give relief to consumers who have got huge electricity bills on account of unmetered billing. These provisional bills payable in May are being raised in compliance to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission’s directives issued in early April. Commercial consumers are complaining that these bills do not reflect actual power consumption as their shops remained closed for most of the month.
“I have written to the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, flagging concerns regarding these high bills that are being levied on consumers. The State government should ensure that there are no penalties and late charge fees levied on consumers. There should be fixed charge waivers for lockdown months and for at least one more month on electricity bills,” Ramesh Bidhuri, Lok Sabha MP from South Delhi constituency told BusinessLine.
“As small shops remained closed with no income at all, the power distribution companies (Discoms) should be directed to not to levy any electricity charges, fixed charges and late payment penalty for three months commencing from lockdown (period),” he wrote to Kejriwal.
According to Discoms officials, such provisional bills will be regularized in the future as and when the actual reading for the provisional period is available.
Similarly, the President of the Delhi State Congress Committee, Chaudhary Anil Kumar, who wrote to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Kejriwal, raised the concerns of residential consumers and parents during the lockdown. He said, "All private schools should be directed not to charge school fees for the lock-up period to relieve parents' pressure in such difficult times and also to provide free electricity and water supplies to all residents of Delhi during the Coronavirus pandemic.”
“I have repeatedly made representations to the Delhi government on these issues,” Kumar said.
The restaurant industry is one of the worst hits due to the lockdown. Among other demands, a number of industry associations have sought to waive the complete electricity bill or to reduce bills by at least one quarter.
