The Delhi government’s policy to make power distributors pay consumers for unscheduled cuts in supply was approved by Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday.
In a tweet that tagged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Power Minister Satyendar Jain, Mr. Baijal said, “Approved proposal for issue of policy directions regarding payment of compensation to consumers in case of power failure @ArvindKejriwal and @SatyendarJain”.
On Tuesday, Mr. Kejriwal had approved the proposal of the Power Department to make Discoms pay consumers ₹50 per hour for the first two hours and then ₹100 for each subsequent hour in case there was an unscheduled power cut.
In a statement, the government had said that the policy had been sent to the L-G for approval.
Responding to the L-G’s tweet announcing his decision, Mr. Kejriwal said in a tweet: “This is a revolutionary and a v innovative policy of Delhi govt which will make DISCOMS directly accountable to people. [sic]”.
AAP’s second attempt
This was the second time that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation had tried to implement the policy.
A 2015 directive to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had not been implemented as it had not been approved by the L-G.
To be adjusted in bills
According to the policy, the compensation amount would be adjusted in consumers’ bills.
Consumers would have to log a complaint of “no current” via text message, call, email, website or app, the government statement had said on Tuesday.
