Late payment charges on water bills to be completely waived off till Jan 31 next year: Delhi CM

In a major relief for Delhi residents, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday announced a complete waiver of water bill late payment surcharges running into over Rs 11,000 crore for domestic consumption till January 31 next year.

Addressing a press conference, the chief minister formally announced that domestic consumers will get a 70 per cent waiver on late payment surcharge (LPSC) after January 31 till March 31, 2026.

“The government is waiving off Rs 11,000 surcharge on water bills. The LPSC waiver will be 100 per cent till January 31, 2026. After that, we will not extend this benefit. From February 1 till March 31 next year, the LPSC waiver will be 70 per cent,” she said.

Gupta said that the government has also decided to reduce the fee and penalty for converting illegal water connections to legal connections from the current Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,000 in the domestic category, and in the non-domestic category, charges have been brought down to Rs 5,000 from Rs 61,000.

The chief minister said that there are 29 lakh unauthorised water connections in Delhi.

The total outstanding amount of pending water bills (including all categories — domestic, government, and commercial) that Delhi Jal Board has to collect is Rs 87,589 crore. Of this, the principal amount is Rs 7,125 crore and the LPSC charge is Rs 80,463 crore, which is 91 per cent of the total bill, according to officials.