Long regulatory road before Delhi govt penalises discoms for power cuts

No independent agency will monitor defaults by discoms, who themselves have to keep record of such defaults and inform the government informed about them

The Delhi government’s proposal to penalise power distribution companies for unscheduled power cuts has been approved by the Lt Governor, Delhi. This is the second attempt by the AAP-ruled Delhi government to get penalty approved. However, the idea is as twisted as its implementation would be.

The idea to penalise discoms, proposed in 2016, was rejected by the then Lt Governor. AAP had mooted penalty of Rs 50 per hour per consumer to be levied for the first two hours followed by Rs 100 for every subsequent hour.

The devil lies in the details. To implement the suggestions made by AAP, there is a long winding legal route that is not as easy as it is made to look like.

To start with, the idea of penalising discoms is not novel — Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) already has provisions for penalising the discoms in ‘Delhi Electricity Supply Code and Performance Standards’. This regulation defines the performance and operation criteria for the discoms operating in the National Capital and already has provisions for penalising discoms due to unscheduled power cuts, load-shedding, technical faults and accidents.

The draft regulations report, which is uploaded on the regulator’s website derc.gov.in, states case-by-case penalty on the discoms if it defaults in any of the service its catering to in its designated areas.

The Delhi government asked the regulator to keep a daily track of outages and defaults by the discoms. Interestingly, the amount proposed by AAP is same as suggested by DERC in the draft.

DERC officials said the penalty would be imposed and compensated to the consumer only when a consumer or a group of consumers complain about the default to the distribution licensee or the regulator.

“The Licensee shall register every complaint of a consumer regarding failure of power supply, quality of power supply, meters, bills etc., at the Centralised Complaint Centre or Complaint Centres, Commercial Manager and intimate the complaint number to the consumer,” said the DERC regulation.

There is no monitoring of the defaults by the discoms by any independent agency. The discoms themselves have to keep record of their defaulting activites and also keep the government informed on the same.

“The details of scheduled power outages is informed in the by the commission and discoms have to abide accordingly. The Public Grievances Cell (PGC) of the government of National Capital of Delhi is kept informed, which keeps a record of all unscheduled power cuts in Delhi and they are the ones who would compile the details of the extent of consumers affected by each power cut on the basis of complaints received from public or the government or on its own,” said a senior DERC official.

The regulation mentions the licensee shall maintain consumer-wise records regarding the guaranteed standards of performance in order to give fair treatment to all consumers and avoid any dispute regarding violation of standards.

For getting the penalty in their monthly bills, a consumer would have to file a legal case or formal complaint with either the discom or the regulator.

“Any person who is affected by the failure of the Distribution Licensee to meet the standards of performance specified under these Regulations, and who seeks to claim compensation, shall file his claim with such a Distribution Licensee within a maximum period of 60 days -– from the time such a person is affected by such failure of the Distribution Licensee to meet the standards of performance,” says the regulation.

Power distribution in Delhi is managed by private companies. The three private distribution companies in Delhi are Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), Reliance Infra-promoted BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL).