Delhi govt orders CAG audit of power discoms over regulatory assets issue

The Delhi government has ordered CAG audit of power discoms against the backdrop of a staggering Rs 38,500 crore accumulated over the years as Regulatory Assets (RA) that is to be recovered from consumers.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India will undertake a “strict and intensive” audit of the circumstances under which discoms – BRPL, BYPL and TPDDL– have continued without recovery of regulatory assets, according to an order issued by the Power Department of Delhi government on Wednesday.

The audit may preferably be completed within three months from the date of communication of the order, subject to any extension that the CAG may consider according to the scope and complexity of the audit, the order said.

The formal order for the CAG audit of the discoms, is a “historic moment for transparency, accountability and governance reforms’ in Delhi’s power sector, Power Minister Ashish Sood said on Thursday.

It is a victory for every electricity consumer and every honest taxpayer of Delhi, he added.

The amount of Rs 38,500 crore owed to the three discoms -BRPL, BYPL and TODDL- is to be paid through a regulatory assets surcharge which is part of the electricity bills of consumers.

“The people of Delhi have every right to know how regulatory assets worth nearly Rs 38,00 crore kept growing and who benefited while this burden continued to hang over them. This CAG audit will bring out the facts,” Sood said.

He asserted that not a single honest taxpayer of Delhi will be forced to pay for anybody’s “vested interests, special favours or wrong decisions”, and added that every rupee of public money must be protected.

The order issued by the Power department has been approved by Lt Governor of Delhi.