Addressing the Shortcomings in Compensating Policy
iasparliament
April 24, 2018
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.
