Discoms will have to pay for outages: Delhi government

New Delhi: Power distribution companies in the national capital will have to pay penalty to consumers if unscheduled loadshedding in their area was for an hour or more and the fine amount will be adjusted in monthly bills.

A decision in this regard was taken on Thursday by the Delhi government which asked Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to put in place a system immediately to ensure payment of penalty to the consumers. Announcing the decision, Delhi's Power Minister Satyendra Jain said penalty of Rs 50 per hour per consumer will be levied for the first two hours followed by Rs 100 for every subsequent hour.

The government issued the directions to DERC to implement the orders under the provisions of Section 108 of the Electricity Act 2003 which is binding on the regulator. If the compensation is not paid suo-moto by the discoms and if any affected consumer approaches electricity grievance redressal forums for claims, then the amount of compensation in such cases will be Rs 5,000 or five times the compensation payable on suo-moto basis, whichever is higher, Jain said.

He said if any consumer approaches DERC after 90 days with a complaint that he has not received his compensation, DERC will have to order and ensure payment to all consumers affected by that power cut. DERC sources said it has already convened a meeting with the officials of the discoms on the issue and that it will follow the government directive. The regulator is likely to come out with details on the issue shortly.

The government has also directed DERC to come out with detailed schedule of power cuts in different parts of Delhi 15 days in advance and put it out on its website. Jain said unscheduled power cuts should not last one hour and once it touches one hour, then the discoms will have to pay penalty.

"In case of disruption of power supply of an individual consumer the supply shall be restored within three hours of complaint. Failure to do so shall result in a penalty of Rs 100 per hour," said Jain. The power minister said that all payments of compensation will be made suo-moto by the discoms by way of adjustment against current and/or future bills for supply of electricity but not later than 90 days.