Delhi Jal Board Late Payment Surcharge (LPSC) Waiver Scheme

What is the Delhi water bill waiver scheme?

The Delhi water bill waiver scheme is formally the Scheme for Waiver of LPSC (Late Payment Surcharge), issued by the Office of the Director (Revenue), Delhi Jal Board, GNCTD, Varunalaya Phase-II, Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005, under Instructional Order No. DJB/DOR/Preamble/2025/9839 to 10130 dated 14 October 2025, signed by the Director (Revenue). The Board approved it by Resolution No. 1467, Item No. 693, in its meeting held on 26 September 2025, and the order describes it as a final waiver scheme.

Delhi Jal Board is the water utility of the Government of NCT of Delhi. A water bill has two components: the principal; water and sewer charges plus service charges, and the late payment surcharge, added when a bill is not paid by the due date. On old accounts, the surcharge often grows to a large share of the total outstanding. This scheme removes the surcharge but never the principal, so its purpose is to let households with long-pending arrears settle at the underlying amount actually consumed and billed.

The scheme's stated aim, in DJB's own words, is "to provide relief to consumers in settlement of the outstanding arrears of water bills".

How much is waived, and by when?

The LPSC standing against a consumer's account as on the cut-off date of 30 September 2025 is waived for domestic consumers if the outstanding principal or arrears, along with the current bill if any, is cleared during the scheme period:

Delhi government announcements reported widely in the press subsequently extended the scheme to 15 August 2026, after uptake stayed low, around a third of consumers with outstanding dues had used the scheme by that stage. The extension is not part of the original instructional order reproduced above, so confirm the slab applicable to your payment at your Zonal Revenue Office or on the DJB portal before paying.

Two structural points follow from the order. First, no LPSC is levied during the currency of the scheme. Second, LPSC will be levied on unpaid bills after the scheme ends if the principal is not cleared inside the scheme period, so letting the window lapse restores the surcharge clock.

Who is eligible, and who is not eligible?

You can avail the LPSC waiver if:

• You are a domestic consumer in Category-I of the Delhi Jal Board tariff.
• Your connection is active, and this applies irrespective of the status of the water meter, working or non-working. DJB wrote this in expressly so that households billed on average consumption because of a dead meter are not shut out.
• Your account carried an outstanding LPSC as on 30 September 2025.
• You clear the complete principal amount during the scheme period, in one payment or in instalments.

You can also avail it if your connection is non-active. DJB's order says non-active consumers may approach the Zonal Revenue Offices and avail the benefit by making payment of the principal amount against their dues.

You are not eligible if:

• Your connection is commercial, industrial or otherwise non-domestic. The order restricts the waiver to Domestic Consumers (Category-I).
• Any part of your principal remains pending. DJB states plainly that the LPSC waiver is available only after clearance of the complete principal amount, and that if any principal remains pending, the benefit will not be applicable.
• Your surcharge arose after 30 September 2025, which is the cut-off date for the LPSC being written off.

How to apply for the Delhi water bill LPSC waiver

There is no application form and no eligibility certificate. The steps are:

1. Find your payable principal and waiver amount. After the launch of the scheme these are reflected on your subsequent water bill. You can also view them on the DJB consumer portal at www.djb.gov.in, or by visiting your nearest Zonal Revenue Office.
2. Check your consumer category. The waiver applies to Domestic (Category-I) connections. If your bill shows a non-domestic category and you believe that is wrong, raise it at the Zonal Revenue Office before paying.
3. Decide between one payment and instalments. DJB permits either, so long as the whole principal is cleared within the scheme period.
4. Pay the principal, online through the DJB consumer portal or in person at a Zonal Revenue Office or authorised collection counter. Keep the receipt or transaction reference.
5. Verify on the next bill that the LPSC has been written off against your K-No. If it has not, take the payment receipt to your Zonal Revenue Office.
6. If your connection is non-active, go directly to the Zonal Revenue Office and settle the principal there, since the online consumer portal may not carry a live account for you.

How do I check my dues and the waiver amount?

Three routes, all named in the DJB order:

• Your next water bill, which shows the payable principal amount and the LPSC waiver amount after the scheme was launched.
• The DJB consumer portal at www.djb.gov.in, using your K-No. The same portal carries the "Apply For Grievance" option.
• The nearest Zonal Revenue Office (ZRO), which holds the account records and is the designated office for non-active consumers.

What happens if my payment is reversed?

DJB's order contains a clawback clause. In case the payment by which the LPSC waiver was availed is cancelled, the waiver amount is reverted against the account or K-No. The order states that the same provision applies where a cheque is dishonoured. In practical terms, a bounced cheque does not just leave the principal unpaid, it also restores the entire surcharge that had been written off.

What is the companion scheme for unauthorised connections?

Alongside the LPSC waiver, Delhi Jal Board approved a Scheme for Regularization of Unauthorized Water and Sewer Connections by Resolution No. 1466, Item No. Admn 692, in the same meeting of 26 September 2025, notified by instructional order No. F-498/DJB/DOR/Regularization Scheme/2025/10131 to 10330.

Ordinarily, regularising an unauthorised connection costs an unauthorised penalty of Rs 3,000 plus three years of water charges assessed at a minimum of 25 kilo litres per month — working out to about Rs 24,570 for a domestic connection and Rs 61,056 for a non-domestic connection, besides normal connection charges and Infrastructure Charges. Under the scheme, that is replaced by a token penalty of Rs 1,000 for a domestic connection and Rs 5,000 for a non-domestic connection, with normal water and sewer connection charges and IFC still collected as usual. The scheme period stated in the order is 14 October 2025 to 31 January 2026.

Two further reliefs are built in. Unauthorised sewerage connections may be regularised without formality where an authorised water connection already exists, with only Infrastructure Charges demanded on plots above 200 sq m. And property ownership documents are relaxed; DJB accepts any three paid electricity bills for the property in the applicant's name, along with the applicant's identity proof at the same property, where ownership documents are genuinely unavailable. DJB reserves the right to disconnect if a dispute arises later.

Common mistakes that cost consumers the waiver

• Paying part of the principal. A partial payment earns no waiver at all; the full principal must be cleared inside the scheme window.
• Forgetting the current bill. The order requires the outstanding principal along with the current bill, if any, to be cleared.
• Assuming the principal is waived too. Only the surcharge is written off.
• Waiting past the slab date. Moving from the 100 per cent slab to the 70 per cent slab costs 30 per cent of the surcharge; letting the scheme lapse entirely restores LPSC on the unpaid bill.
• Assuming a commercial connection qualifies. Category-I domestic only.
• Paying by a cheque that bounces, which reverts the waiver against the account.

Where to get help and raise a grievance

• Delhi Jal Board helpline: 1916, the number DJB prints for consumer assistance.
• DJB consumer portal: https://djb.gov.in; bill view, online payment and the "Apply For Grievance" option.
• Zonal Revenue Office (ZRO) for your area, the designated office for settling dues, for non-active connections, and for correcting a wrong consumer category.
• Office of the Director (Revenue), Delhi Jal Board, Varunalaya Phase-II, Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005. The office that issued the scheme order.

No agent or middleman is needed to obtain the LPSC waiver. It is applied automatically against your K-No. when the principal is cleared, and Delhi Jal Board charges nothing for it.

Common reasons the LPSC waiver gets denied or reversed

There is no application to reject in this scheme, since it works automatically when the principal is paid. But DJB does refuse or claw back the waiver in specific situations, and knowing them in advance saves a second trip to the Zonal Revenue Office.

• Principal left partly unpaid. DJB's order is explicit that the waiver applies only after clearance of the complete principal amount, and if any part of the principal remains pending, the benefit does not apply at all, not even proportionately. Fix: clear the full principal shown on your bill or portal before assuming the surcharge is gone; if you are paying in instalments, the waiver only takes effect once the last instalment clears the principal in full.
• Connection is not Domestic Category-I. The scheme is restricted to domestic consumers. Commercial, industrial, institutional or other non-domestic categories get no LPSC waiver under this order. Fix: if your bill wrongly shows a non-domestic category for what is actually a residential connection, raise a category-correction request at the Zonal Revenue Office before paying, since paying first and disputing later does not retroactively apply the waiver.
• Surcharge accrued after the cut-off date. The waiver covers only LPSC standing on the account as on 30 September 2025. Any late payment surcharge that built up after that date, from bills issued or falling due after the cut-off, is not covered even if you pay during the scheme window. Fix: check the LPSC breakup on your bill or at the ZRO to confirm how much of it predates the cut-off; the rest still has to be paid or contested separately.
• Cheque dishonoured or online payment reversed. DJB's order specifically states that if the payment through which the LPSC waiver was availed is cancelled, or a cheque bounces, the waived amount is reverted against the K-No. This means a bounced cheque does not just leave the principal unpaid, it puts the entire surcharge back on the account. Fix: pay by a mode you are certain will not reverse (net banking, UPI, or cash at the counter) rather than a cheque close to the scheme deadline, and keep the transaction receipt to show at the ZRO if there is any dispute.
• Non-active connection paid through the wrong channel. For non-active connections, the online consumer portal may not carry a live, payable account, so a payment attempt there can fail or go unrecorded against the correct K-No. Fix: non-active consumers should settle the principal directly at the Zonal Revenue Office rather than relying on the online portal.
• Payment made after the scheme period closes. Because the waiver is tied to the payment date falling within the notified scheme period (and the applicable slab, 100% or 70%, depends on which part of that period the payment falls in), a payment made after the window closes gets no LPSC relief at all, and the surcharge continues to accrue from that point. Fix: confirm the currently applicable closing date with your Zonal Revenue Office or the DJB portal before the payment, since the scheme's end date has already been extended once from the originally notified 31 March 2026.