City discoms have been paying through their nose for power from National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) coal-based Jhajjar and Dadri 1 and 2 plants thanks to the gradual increase in fuel prices. The unit price at which power production at these plants was commissioned became history soon after it began generation and rising coal prices made power costlier by up to Rs 1.82 per unit.

The reason for this is mainly being attributed to the mixing of imported coal with domestic coal supply to either reach a desired quantity in case of shortfall in domestic supply, or to infuse a certain calorific value to coal, which is needed for power generation.

Now, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has started a system of levying a surcharge on consumers every quarter to recover the variation in fuel cost discoms have to bear. This variation threatens to become a burden on Delhiites.

Even though the Central Electricity Supply Commission has approved a certain amount of variation in the power cost and it is also anticipated and factored in the yearly aggregate revenue requirement of discoms approved by DERC, discoms are now saying that the current situation is getting out of hand.

Between the three stations, discoms will have to pay Rs 250 crore more a month to source Delhi’s entire share of power from these stations. Together they are supposed to supply 2,241 MW of power.