Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on Thursday announced a new tariff without any increase in any rates, stating it did not see any good reasons to do so.

“After considering all the relevant factors, the Commission has come to the conclusion that there are no good reasons to make any increase in the existing tariff structure,” DERC said in a statement.

However, the power bill for consumers may increase marginally from October first as the commission has raised the pension surcharge from five per cent to seven per cent.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also congratulated Delhiites for no increase in power tariff for seven years in a row. “Congratulations Delhi. No change in the electricity tariff of Delhi for the consecutive 7th year. Where on one side electricity rates are touching sky (skyrocketing prices), the Delhiites are getting not only 24 hours electricity at cheaper rates but also getting 200 units for free,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.

In the new power tariff order, DERC said in order to promote pollution free transportation and clean environment, the commission has decided to continue with the existing subsidized tariff rates for e-rickshaw/e-vehicle category.

It may be noted that in the last fiscal 2020-21, the DERC did not hike the electricity rates citing Covid pandemic.

In 2021-22 tariff order, the commission has also encouraged green power by providing waiver of service line cum development (SLD) and network augmentation charges for all renewable energy projects to developers under the virtual and group net metering mode.

Notably, the power tariff in Delhi has not witnessed any major increase since 2015. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also claimed the electricity rates in the city are cheapest in the country.