(This story originally appeared in on Apr 02, 2015)

NEW DELHI: Two weeks after Delhi government sent a letter to electricity watchdog Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission asking for clarifications on tariff orders from fiscals 2011-2014, the regulatory body has broken its silence.In a strongly-worded letter, a miffed DERC has questioned Delhi government's "intervention" in tariff-related issues and subtly reminded it that the regulatory body is a quasi-judicial body with "exclusive mandate to fix tariffs". DERC has further suggested that the government should file an appeal with the appellate tribunal if it wants to challenge any past tariff orders and that it cannot explain the reasoning for past tariffs beyond what has already been said in the orders."DERC is a quasi-judicial autonomous and statutory institution set up under Electricity Act 2003 and is exclusively mandated to fix tariffs and take up all related areas of functioning as prescribed under Section 86 of Electricity Act, 2003. It may be noted that all orders passed by the Commission, under various provisions of the Act, are appealable before the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity . All stakeholders, including consumers and the government of Delhi, are free to question or dispute the fixation of tariffs by filing appeals before APTEL and, in case of need, the APTEL orders can also be challenged before the Supreme Court ," reads the DERC response to Delhi government.The Commission further said that all allegations should be brought before the appropriate forum. "It would not be appropriate or fair to all stakeholders of DERC to respond to specific allegations with respect to tariff fixation because these have financial implications for all concerned. All such allegations must be put to the test of trueness by an appropriate level to the relevant forum ," said the Commission.In response to questions raised by the government on whether DERC checked the "genuineness" of the rates at which power was purchased by discoms in the open market, the regulator responded, "The Commission would like to reiterate that it is well aware of its responsibility to protect the interests of the consumers and ensure tariffs are correct as per law and fully justified. We are focused on ensuring correct tariffs so that none of stakeholders is put at a disadvantage and uninterrupted supply of quality power as per law is facilitated."DERC has also pointed out that the government was a 49% shareholder in all discoms and high officials were directors on the boards of these companies. "The government is, therefore, expected and assumed to be familiar with the affairs of discom companies. The government may, additionally, participate in the tariff fixation exercise by DERC and/or challenge the tariff fixed before ATE.In these circumstances, it may perhaps, not be proper for any stakeholder such as the government to raise questions of DERC regarding its quasi-judicial functioning by administrative recourse. Detailed orders of DERC from 2009 onwards are all available on the DERC website and contain all the reasons and reasoning behind those orders. DERC will not be in a position to 'explain' these in any further detail than already done," said the letter.