A policy that will make power discoms pay compensation to consumers for unscheduled power cuts was approved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Delhi government said the Chief Minister had approved the Power Department’s policy and it had been sent to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal for final approval.
‘Consumer benefit’
“The government is of the clear view that power distribution privatisation in Delhi, which was done around 15 years back, should benefit consumers and uninterrupted power supply for which they pay, is their right,” the government statement said.
The Delhi government had issued similar instructions to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission in 2015 but the compensation policy was not implemented.
This time, the government said it was “confident” that the L-G will concur, according to the statement. The policy says that the discom will have to restore power within an hour of an unscheduled cut, failing which it will have to pay each consumer ₹50 per hour for the first two hours and then ₹100 per hour for each subsequent hour.
Once a day, discoms will be given exemption from penalty for the first one hour. In case of recurrent cuts for the same consumer on the same day, penalty will accrue from the beginning of the unscheduled cut, the government statement said.
To file a complaint
Consumers will be required to file a complaint of “no current” through text message, email, phone call or through an app or the website. The discom will then attend to the complaint and send a confirmation with details of the date and time of restoration of supply. The compensation will be adjusted with the bill of the consumer.
