LG approves pension surcharge audit

Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena approved a special audit of Delhi's power companies to investigate a pension surcharge and ensure proper fund allocation.

New Delhi

LG VK Saxena. (Archive)

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena approved a special audit of power companies to look into the pension surcharge levied as part of electricity tariff on consumers in the city, to track the actual pension surcharge collected by distribution companies (discoms) and transferred to the pension trust, officials with the LG’s office said on Tuesday.

Discoms levy a pension surcharge of 7% on the monthly electricity bills of consumers in the city.

“The main objective of the special audit is to track funds collected as pension surcharge from consumers and ensure that they are being properly utilised for the funding pensions and related benefits for retired employees of the Delhi Vidyut Board. A difference of more than ₹1,100 crore was found in funds allocated by DERC and collected by discoms for pension trust during last seven years. In 2022-23, ₹1,520 crore was received by the pension trust from discoms in the form of pension surcharge, against a demand of ₹1930 crore,” the LG office said.