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Informist, Monday, Apr. 20, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Consumers in Delhi will get higher electricity bills in the coming months as the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity on Monday rejected the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission's plea for more time to recover money from the public to clear its dues of INR 385.52 billion to Union territory's power distribution companies. The power regulator had sought three more months till Jul. 1 to start the process of recovering money from consumers for repaying dues to companies such as BSES Yamuna Power Ltd., BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd., a joint venture of Tata Power Co. Ltd. and the Delhi government.

 

"We find it evident that the commission has been delaying the liquidation of regulatory assets for one reason or the other, thereby permitting increase in the amount of regulatory assets day by day which would place additional burden upon the end consumers of the electricity in NCT (National Capital Territory) of Delhi," the appellate tribunal said. It did not see any plausible reason preventing the regulatory commission from commencing liquidation of regulatory assets, it added.

 

Regulatory assets refer to costs incurred by power distribution companies that are recoverable from customers in the future through regulated rates or tariffs. These are typically created when a distribution company incurs certain expenses that are considered necessary for the provision of reliable and affordable electricity services to customers, but are not immediately recoverable through customer bills. These expenses could include investments in infrastructure, such as transmission and distribution systems, or costs associated with complying with regulatory requirements. 

 

The entire conduct of the regulatory commission appeared to be malafide and needs to be deprecated, the appellate tribunal said. The regulatory commission has been holding back its hands on regulatory assets despite giving repeated undertakings and assurances in this regard to the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, and the tribunal, it said.

 

The appellate tribunal directed the regulatory commission to commence the process of liquidation of regulatory assets as per the Supreme Court's verdict within three weeks. "However, considering the statutory procedure to be followed for issuing the true up order, time upto 30.06.2026 (Jun. 30, 2026) is granted for passing true up order of FY(financial year)(Apr-Mar) 2023-24," it said.

 

Last year, the top court directed that all regulatory commissions must provide a trajectory for liquidation of existing regulatory assets, which would include a provision for dealing with carrying costs. The apex court had said regulatory commissions must also undertake a strict and intensive audit of the circumstances in which distribution companies have continued without recovery of the regulatory assets. The existing regulatory asset must be liquidated in a maximum of seven years from Apr. 1, 2026, the court had said. The apex court was hearing petitions by BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power Delhi, challenging the manner in which the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission had determined the tariff for retail supply of electricity over the years, leading to the creation and continuation of a regulatory asset.

 

On Monday, shares of Tata Power Co. Ltd. ended 1.4% higher at INR 433.60 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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