What is the issue?
- Delhi government has laid down a policy to provide compensation for power cuts.
- The policy has few practical shortcomings which need to be addressed with respective reforms.
What is the compensation policy about?
- The policy of compensating consumers for power cut is based on the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003.
- It mandates the discoms to pay Rs.50 for power cuts lasting more than 2 hours and the service providers to pay Rs.100 for each hour following the initial 2 hours of blackout.
- The policy also enables consumers to complain with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) in case they are not paid the due commission by the discoms.
- The amount of compensation in such cases will be Rs 5,000 or five times the compensation payable, whichever is higher.
What are few shortcomings in this policy?
- The policy has lack of clear definition of terms such as blackout, unscheduled power cut, and there is no proper mechanism to monitor real-time data on electricity supply.
- Defects in power infrastructure, human error, and Grid interruptions which affect power supply are major concerns while implementing this policy.
- There is no clear information from the regulator on how power disruption due to vagaries of nature will be handled.
What measures are needed in this regard?
- The regulator has to clarify the different terminologies being used while reporting power cuts.
- Digital setup to monitor real time data on supply of electricity has to be set up.
- Clarification on compensation of power cuts during heavy rainfall or disruptions due to improper infrastructure has to be made.
- Information regarding power cuts has to be communicated to the consumer as quick as possible, with the possible cause of the blackout.
Source: The Indian Express
