The 26 per cent hike in power tariff for domestic consumers in Delhi will come into effect from today. The new rates were announced by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, DERC, earlier this week. As per the new rates, a domestic consumer will be charged 3.70 rupees per unit for the first 200 units of power instead of the current 3 rupees. Consumers having a monthly usage of up to 400 units will have to pay 4.80 rupees per unit of power. For consumption above 400 units, 6.40 rupees per unit will be charged instead of the current 5.70 rupees. Justifying the hike, the DERC had said the combined deficits of three discoms have been estimated at around six thousand crore rupees and there was no alternative but to hike the tariff. AIR correspondent reports, this is the fourth hike in tariff in the last 10 months. The regulator in August last year had hiked the tariff by 22 per cent for all categories of consumers. The tariff was hiked by five per cent in February and by up to two per cent in May to adjust the power purchase cost of the distribution companies.