With summers around the corner, the problem of incessant power cuts looms over. However, the residents of Delhi might see a pro-consumer policy put in place. To ensure Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) are more accountable, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 17, approved a policy proposal which asks DISCOMs to pay a compensation of Rs 50 per hour of power cut per customer.
There are three private power DISCOMs including the BSES companies BYPL and BRPL, and the Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) that supply power to the city, barring areas under the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment.
This policy proposal now awaits Lieutenant General (LG) Anil Baijal’s assent.
Delhi becomes the first in the country to draw up a “Power Consumer Compensation Policy”, as per which, the users will have the compensation amount credited by the concerned distribution company which can be adjusted in the electricity bill.
The power companies will have to restore electricity in case of an unscheduled power cut within an hour, failing which the company would have to pay a penalty of Rs 50 per hour per customer for the first two hours and post these two hours, the penalty amount will be increased to Rs 100 per hour per customer.
1 घण्टे से अधिक की अघोषित कटौती होने पर उपभोगताओं को मिलेगा हर्जाना
हर्जाना उपभोक्ताओं के मासिक बिल में एडजस्ट किया जाएगा
पहले 2 घण्टे कटौती पर 50 रुपए प्रति घण्टे, 2 घण्टे से अधिक होने पर 100 रुपए प्रति घण्टे हर्जाना मिलेगा। #Governance4CommonMan pic.twitter.com/UGM2OBcwpx
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) April 18, 2018
An official statement says, “According to this new policy, in the case of an unscheduled power cut, the DISCOMs (power distribution companies) will have to restore the electricity within one hour, and failure to do so shall result in a penalty of Rs 50 per hour per consumer for the first two hours and Rs 100 per hour per consumer after two hours.”
The DISCOMs would be exempted from the penalty during the initial one hour only once in a day. In case of recurrence of the power cut, the penalty would be calculated from the beginning of the duration of the unscheduled power cut.
DISCOMs would identify all customers affected by an unscheduled power cut from their own records and the compensation would be credited to each customer’s Consumer Account (CA) number.
If an individual instead of an entire cluster is affected, then he or she can file a “No Current” complaint through SMS, email, phone or online, post which the DISCOM will send the customer the restoration time and date.
In cases where compensation is not credited automatically by the concerned DISCOM, the customer can go ahead and approach Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) or Consumer Redressal Forum (CGRF) for its resolution and the compensation amount in these cases would be Rs 5,000.
A Delhi government spokesperson said, “The government is of the clear view that power distribution privatisation in Delhi, which was done around 15 years back, should benefit the consumers and uninterrupted power supply for which they pay, is their right. The Delhi government is confident that the honourable LG will concur with the policy and will endorse this pro-consumer step, which will become a model for other governments across the country to follow,”
