To curb losses, NDMC to ask Centre for flexibility in power purchase

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“We are going to ask for flexibility in the agreement. Instead of the same amount of power units being bought by the NDMC throughout the year, there can be two slots — one from March to September and the other from October to April,” Kumar said.

Officials said the council has been running into losses for the past few years owing to the fixed amount of power units that it has to buy.

“This situation has existed since 2006 when there was a shift in the format for supplying electricity. Earlier, the NDMC could sell surplus power at the best rates. This was done away with in 2005 by the Delhi Regulatory Commission (DERC),” an NDMC official said.

According to DERC guidelines, the council has to purchase and sell electricity at fixed rates. Last year, the NDMC was left with surplus power. This had to be sold below the rates at which it was purchased, leading to a loss of around Rs 150 crore.

Currently, NDMC officials said, the civic body purchases 380 MW of power every day. However, power consumption during winter is only around 150 MW per day. To add to this, the NDMC is also required to maintain a daily surplus of 30 MW. “In order to ensure there is no disruption in power supply in this area, a major part of which falls under the VVIP zone, we have this daily surplus,” the official said.