BJP to protest power purchase agreement charge hike in all 14 districts

New Delhi, July 14

The Delhi BJP, led by its president Virendra Sachdeva, announced plans to stage demonstrations across all 14 districts of the city to protest the imposition of the power purchase agreement charge (PPAC) and other surcharges by power distribution companies (DISCOMs).

At a press conference here on Sunday, Sachdeva showed a letter he wrote to Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) Chairman, Justice Jayant Nath (retd), seeking inquiry into the hefty charges added to electricity bills. “Delhiites’ electricity bills are excessively high not just due to summer consumption but due to the exorbitant PPAC and other charges,” Sachdeva stated.

Sachdeva highlighted that the PPAC, initially introduced at 1.5 per cent in 2011, has now surged to nearly 45 percent. “Since 2015, every winter and summer, the PPAC is raised for the quarter concerned but never withdrawn. This is part of a corrupt collusion between the Arvind Kejriwal government and DISCOMs,” he claimed.

He also criticised the failure of the Delhi government and DISCOMs for seasonal power demands, leading to costly emergency power purchases. “The present electricity tariff is sufficient to keep DISCOMs profitable if they plan properly. Instead, they exploit consumers through these surcharges,” Sachdeva added.

Delhi BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor, who coordinated the press conference, accused the Delhi Government and DISCOMs of having a mutual relationship to exploit the common man. He declared that the BJP workers would demonstrate at the DISCOM offices across Delhi tomorrow to demand a rollback of the PPAC hike.

Sachdeva’s letter to the DERC Chairman also pointed out abnormal hikes in pension surcharge, meter rent and load surcharges, which collectively inflate the bills significantly. “Despite DISCOMs being profitable at current per unit charges, they continue to impose these surcharges. We demand a judicial inquiry into this matter,” Sachdeva insisted.

He further noted that the BJP had successfully pushed for the withdrawal of the PPAC charges in 2014, only for these to be reinstated and increased under the Kejriwal administration. “This issue has reached a point where the middle class is bearing the brunt, paying nearly double their actual electricity consumption due to these added charges,” he said.