With the Sheila Dikshit government still in two minds about whether Delhi's power companies are running into profit or loss, power regulator, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, has recommended that the government get the discoms' audited accounts verified again by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

While discoms have been crying about running into huge losses for months, DERC declared that their audited accounts are showing healthy profits of over Rs 3,000 crore, that could possibly lead to a reduction in the consumer tariff. The audited account figures have been challenged by discoms saying that their actual expenses were ignored.

To settle the matter once and for all, the regulator has written to the government requesting it to ask the CAG for audit of accounts of at least three of the latest completed years, i.e, financial years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 of BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and NDPL.

"The government is aware that there have been several controversies regarding 'correctness' of the accounts of the three private discoms in Delhi. Several claims and counter claims have been made with respect to some figures available in the audited accounts of these companies.

Therefore, it is best to get the matter settled. The best way is to do this with an audit by CAG,'' reads a letter from DERC to the government.

Arguing for the move, DERC officials cited the example of TRAI that had recently decided to get the accounts of four private telecom companies audited by CAG. "Since the government holds 49% stake in all three discoms and has a responsibility to ensure that all the accounts of the private discoms are reliable, an audit by CAG will give a reasonable assurance to the government on the share received/receivable from the private companies,'' said officials.