Ranchi, May 7: Power woes for the seven districts under the Damodar Valley Corporation command area are likely to continue with the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC) reserving its judgment on the issue of revision of tariff.

The next date of hearing has been set for May 21.

On April 29, DVC had announced it would regulate power in its command area for an indefinite period unless Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) pays up an outstanding amount of Rs 720.09 crore. As a result, districts such as Dhanbad, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma, some sections of East Singhbhum (Mosabani and Ghatshila) and Bokaro are going without power for an average of five hours every day.

The commission has to fix DVC?s tariff rates following which the amount it owes JSEB will be determined. JSEB claims the amount is Rs 395 crore, around half of what DVC has demanded. DVC officials said the onus was on the state government.

?We have expressed our problems. The government should take a serious view of the matter. It is only then that the issue will be solved. Load-shedding will continue otherwise,? said K.K. Singh, DVC resident manager.

JSEB officials insist the amount projected by DVC has not been properly ascertained. ?DVC supplies us power at the rate of Rs 2.40 per unit. But the amount will get reduced to less than Rs 2 per unit once the commission fixes its tariff. This amount will be applicable from April 1, 2004. So the total amount due from us will get substantially reduced,? said JSEB chief engineer (commercial and revenue) B.K. Sinha.