New Delhi: The city’s power regulator, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), has approached Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) against its last month’s order directing the former to start liquidation of regulatory assets (RA) worth around Rs 38,500 crore.DERC has filed a review petition seeking extension of time till July 1 for initiating the process of liquidation because it will be able to complete a true-up order for 2023-24 by June 30. The issuing of the true-up order is required before liquidation can be initiated, said an official.A true-up order is a final adjustment approved by the power regulator comparing a discom’s actual audited expenses and revenues with the earlier projections that were used for setting tariffs. If approved costs exceed estimates, consumers may face surcharges or higher tariffs. If collections exceed actual costs, consumers may receive relief through lower electricity tariffs.According to the review petition, DERC had in its earlier application sought three months to initiate the liquidation, but APTEL, in its April 20 order, allowed only three weeks.The power discoms in the city are pushing for liquidation of RA pending since 2007 and have filed a petition with APTEL to this end. Their plea is scheduled to be taken up on May 21.The liquidation is required to ensure that the long overdue amount can be recovered from consumers in a phased manner over a period of seven years — a move that will lead to higher power bills as DERC will have to impose higher RA surcharge in the bills as a way to recover the dues.Regulatory assets are created when the costs incurred by discoms — for power purchase, transmission and distribution — are not fully recovered through tariffs. This typically happens when govts avoid raising electricity tariffs for political or populist reasons. The resulting gap is recorded and approved by regulators to be recovered through future tariff revisions.In Delhi, electricity tariffs have not been revised since 2014-15. The cost of supplying power continued to increase, but tariffs remained unchanged, leading to a substantial build-up of regulatory assets to the tune of Rs 38,500 crore. This amount essentially represents deferred costs that will be eventually passed on to consumers through higher tariffs, along with applicable interest.While this approach helped keep power bills low in the short term, it resulted in a significant build-up of unrecovered costs over time, an official said. The situation came under scrutiny following an Aug 2025 Supreme Court order, which mandated the recovery of pending dues in the power sector across states.In the past, discoms had moved the apex court seeking directions for liquidating the assets, following which it passed an order in Oct 2025 directing DERC to liquidate them over seven years — from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2031. The court had directed APTEL to oversee the process of liquidation.Earlier this year, DERC moved APTEL seeking permission to initiate the process of getting Delhi’s power distribution companies (discoms) audited by CAG-empanelled auditors.According to official records, the total RA includes Rs 19,174 crore for BRPL, Rs 12,333 crore for BYPL and Rs 7,046 crore for TPDDL. These figures represent approved costs and reflect the actual expenditure incurred in supplying electricity.
