Delhi: Get up to Rs 100/hr for random power cuts, Kejriwal seeks L-G’s nod today

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Updated: Jun 10, 2017 16:47 IST

You may soon be paid for unscheduled power cuts at your home if lieutenant governor Anil Baijal approves the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s proposal to penalise distribution companies.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to discuss the matter with Baijal today during their regular Wednesday meeting at 5pm.

Last year, the AAP government’s decision to penalise discoms for unscheduled power cuts was struck down by the Delhi High Court as the L-G’s prior approval had not been sought.

“The CM will discuss this matter with the L-G to clear any doubts he may have. He has also directed power department officials to prepare the proposal again and send it to the L-G today itself,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said.

Policy details

According to the compensation policy on power outages that was struck down by the high court, a penalty of Rs 50 per hour per consumer was to be levied for the first two hours followed by Rs 100 for every subsequent hour.

The fine amount was proposed to be adjusted in the consumers’ monthly bills.

The policy stated that if any consumer approached the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) after 90 days with a complaint that he or she had not received his compensation, DERC would have to ensure payment to all consumers affected by that power cut.

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Delhi goes powerless as mercury rises Several parts of the national capital were thrown into darkness as the power demand reached an all-time high

Measures to curb outages

With many parts of the city facing power cuts in the summer heat, the CM took a review meeting on Tuesday with the power minister, chief secretary and officials of the power department after which he issued a series of directives.

Kejriwal ordered authorities to submit a report to him on outages every day and also increase the capacity of discoms’ call centres for satisfactory disposal of people’s complaints.

In his direction to the chief secretary, Kejriwal said power distribution companies should send messages to consumers in affected areas if they resort to unscheduled power cuts.

Sisodia said the chief secretary will ensure that discoms list the scheduled power cuts on their websites so that people can know about it in advance.

He said that it is the responsibility of all three discoms — Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna — to provide power to Delhiites 24x7.

“The CM has sought a daily report on outages at 11am,” the deputy chief minister also said.

He added that the government is fully prepared to meet even a demand of 7,500MW. “In some areas, transformers had tripped because of excessive heat and high demand, that is why outages occurred in the last two days,” Sisodia said.

He said that Kejriwal directed that hoardings be put up across the city with helpline numbers of the three discoms.