New Delhi: The Anil Ambani group's Delhi power distribution companies say they wish to increase supply rates in the national Capital because of a steep increase in procurement cost.

The total power purchase cost for the distributor has gone up from Rs 2.92 and Rs 2.43 a unit in 2008-09 to Rs 3.76 and Rs 3.56 in 2009-10, respectively, in the company's two distribution areas. BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL), both group companies, account for around 70 per cent of the power distribution in Delhi city. The rest of the retail distribution comes from Tata Power's NDPL.

A decision on power supply rates has to be approved by the regulator, the Delhji Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). A DERC official said: "The distribution companies file a tariff petition every year in November and by April, the DERC files a tariff order. This time, the companies have sought more than 50 per cent hike in tariffs (rates) but the extent of hike will be decided by the commission. It will be known by April." The quantum of increase in rates is usually decided on the basis of an annual report filed with the regulator.

The two BSES distribution companies say they are looking for a minimum 10-20 per cent increase in rates, to pass on the increased power purchase cost to consumers. An executive claimed the increase required on account of cost increase and accumulated losses was about 50 per cent.

"There had been consistent increase in power purchase cost since the last few years. Even last year, Delhi discoms met their maximum demand of 4,408 Mw (eight per cent higher over previous year) by procuring power at a much higher cost. Simultaneously, cost escalation on the generation company front resulted in higher effective bulk supply tariff, hence much higher landing cost of power. Discoms cannot immediately pass on the power purchase cost to the consumer, which put pressure on its revenue. All three discoms put together showed a revenue gap of Rs 2,500 crore this year," said a BSES spokesperson.

According to the BSES figures, there was an increase of 136 per cent in BRPL's procurement cost and 171 per cent in BYPL's procurement cost in the past two years. Power purchase cost from NTPC, a Union government company, alone has seen an increase of 125 per cent - Delhi discoms procure at least 70 per cent of their requirement from NTPC. An executive of NTPC maintained the rise in power rates is mainly on account of higher fuel cost for the generator. Other suppliers include NHPC and the open market.