NEW DELHI: Fast running meters, inflated bills and load shedding may form the bulk of power consumers' grievances in the Capital, but power distribution companies insist that the situation is not all that bleak.

For starters, despite being the city with the highest Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses (AT&C), consumers here pay the lowest tariff when compared with other metros, they claim.

"We conducted a survey in five States neighbouring Delhi and in five metro cities and have found that Delhi pays the lowest tariff compared with even those place that have a significantly lower per capita income," says BSES Chief Executive Officer Lalit Jalan.

Referring to the survey that compares electricity tariffs and the quality of electricity in Delhi with Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur, Bhopal, Amritsar, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, Mr. Jalan says: "The quality of electricity in Delhi is not bad when compared with even the metros."

Tariffs in Delhi are said to be the second lowest among all the metros, but the Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses (AT&C) continues to remain at a high of 35 per cent.

"We have been able to curb even that to a large extent. It is a world record that in the past five years we have been able to bring down the loss by about 20 per cent," Mr. Jalan adds.

Regretting that the general perception about the power situation in the Capital was poor, he asserts: "The official load shedding figures of other places are more than Delhi. The fact the losses have been brought down has also benefited consumers. We are making normal returns even as the consumer are paying significantly lower tariffs."

To buttress this claim, Mr. Jalan reasons: "If we were making the same losses that we were making at the time of Delhi Vidyut Board, then either the tariffs in Delhi would have been more by 40 per cent or in case the tariffs remaining same, the Government would have been pumping in Rs.2000 crore every year."

Responding to consumers' complaints of inflated bills and fast running meters, the BSES CEO says: "When we ask customers to come to us with their problems, nobody turns up. We are ready to check and replace meters. We have after all invested Rs.4,000 crore for up-gradation of the system in Delhi."

According to the survey in the domestic urban category, for a consumption of 300 KWH a month, consumers in Delhi pay Rs.2.30 per KWH, while the amount is Rs.3.62.53 per KWH in Kolkata, Rs.2.58.75 per KWH in Hyderabad and Rs.3.69.60 per KWH in Faridabad and Gurgaon and Rs.3.63.75 per KWH in Jaipur.

AT&C losses in Mumbai are 12 per cent, 16 per cent in Kolkata, 9 per cent in Chennai and 21 per cent in Hyderabad, and the official figures of load shedding in Delhi is 0.20 hours, while in Faridabad and Gurgaon it is 5 hours and 10 hours in Noida, the survey notes.

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