Sheila Dikshit government sent on Tuesday a 'directive' to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to withhold the notification of latest tariff order until the latter has examined certain issues raised by the distribution companies, which are managed by private players, BSES and Tata Power.
The issues include, predictably, discoms’ worries over their “precarious financial position” and “accumulation of revenue gaps beyond sustainable levels”.
The directive has already been figured out by our smart Media as the government’s way of telling the DERC that tariffs should not be cut as planned on the basis of Rs 4100 crore surplus which, according to the regulator, discoms enjoy this year.

This directive is very curious for more than one reason.
The discoms have direct dealings with DERC; they submit their tariff petitions along with all data about their operations directly to the regulator. Based on those petitions, DERC makes an estimation of their financial position and determines the tariffs.
Where is the need in such a situation – also bearing in mind that DERC has been ready with the tariff order for almost a month – for Delhi government to take up its private partners’ case with the regulator, even if the Electricity Act allows it to issue such a directive?

The fact that Delhi government is 49 per cent shareholder in all three discoms makes it even more inappropriate for it to try to influence tariff setting.
Also recall that Dikshit has lately been enthusing over Delhiites’ growing affluence and ability to pay bigger utility tariffs.
The chief minister seems to have forgotten that setting electricity tariffs belongs to DERC’s jurisdiction, not her government’s. And as a democratically elected government, her administration should be protecting the interests of the citizens, who are electricity consumers, rather than act as a pleader for the private companies.

One can't help but wonder aloud: Is Sheila batting for private partners in discoms?