Kejriwal’s one-time settlement scheme for water bills: All you need to know

What is the scheme?

The scheme is a “one-time settlement” scheme for households that have pending water bills. These bills are being divided into two categories.

🔴 The first category is of households that have two “okay readings”, which means that meter readers have visited the household and read the meter at least twice, and this has been acknowledged by the authorities and the consumer. In this case, the average of the two readings will be considered and this is the bill that the consumer will then have to pay.

🔴 The second category is if there is only one “okay reading” or no such reading at all. In this case, the water bills of the households in the neighbourhood will be considered and an average will be taken to determine the bill that the consumer will have to pay.

Who will benefit from the scheme?

According to the Chief Minister, out of 27.6 lakh consumers in the city, a total of 11.7 lakh consumers have pending water bills. These dues amount to Rs. 5,737 crore.

🔴 If the bill amount is determined in the manner mentioned above, around 7 lakh households will have a bill amount of zero, since their consumption is below the 20 kilolitre mark that is free in Delhi, according to Kejriwal. This means that these 7 lakh households will not have to pay their pending bill amounts.

🔴 Of the remaining consumers with pending bills, there are 1.5 lakh consumers who consumed 20 to 30 kilolitre per month and the rest consume more than this. These consumers will have to pay the bills calculated in the manner mentioned above.

How can consumers avail of this scheme?

The scheme will be implemented from August 1 onwards for three months. The new bill that will be generated after August 1 will be based on the system mentioned above.

The consumer will then have three months to clear the bill that has been generated in this manner. If the consumer has not cleared the bill within three months, the one-time settlement scheme will expire and the pending amount will have to be paid.

The Delhi Jal Board has recently approved the scheme and it will now require the approval of the Delhi Cabinet.

Why are bills pending and why has the scheme been announced?

According to Kejriwal, arrears have been accumulating for some households for a few reasons, one reason being that during the pandemic, meter readings had not been possible for several households. In some cases, households have received incorrect bills, and in such instances, arrears may have piled up if they were not sorted out.

“If we tried to fix all these bills and get into the reasons for the anomaly, then it would take us over 100 years to sort this out. So, it was not possible to do that. Therefore, we have come out with a one-time settlement scheme for such households,” Kejriwal said on Tuesday.