In a first of its kind in India, electricity consumers in Delhi will get compensation for unscheduled power cuts and other defaults by power distribution companies (discoms).

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has notified the compensation policy for consumers and issued the revised supply code 2017 with the third amendment on the directions of Delhi government.

The revised code will now allow consumers to seek compensation in case of electricity supply interruptions.

The power consumers will be paid Rs 50 per hour for the first two hours of unscheduled cut followed thereafter by Rs 100 per hour, DERC said in a statement.

The compensation will be paid automatically by the discoms to consumers. It will be adjusted in their power bills.

The discoms will submit a report of all such credited compensations to the DERC on weekly basis, said the statement.

“Compensation should be determined on a case by case basis after a proper hearing. An automatic imposition of compensation by way of regulation is not possible,” according to experts.

Any disagreement over payment of compensation by discoms will be decided by the Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum (CGRF). Appeal on the CGRF order will hear by electricity Ombudsman, the statement added.

The new amendment also stated that if the claim is upheld by the CGRF or Ombudsman, the compensation amount in such cases will be Rs 5000/ or five times original compensation, whichever is higher.

In case of scheduled outages, the compensation will be payable after 12 hours or in case outage extends beyond 6 pm whichever is earlier.

“Whether the outage is on account of distribution, transmission or generation failure or consumer’s own installation failure should determine before penalising discoms," said officials of Delhi-based discoms, requesting anonymity.

To adhere to the new amendment, the discoms have to replace existing meters with smart meters which on a conservative estimate may entail an investment of a few thousand crores, they said.

Even for other performance related issues consumer can lodge a complaint with concerned discom within 60 days.

The discom will have to pay compensation to all the affected consumers within 90 days from the last date of previous billing cycle in case of power supply failure and from the date of filing of claim in case of other defaults.

Reliance Infra, Tata Power Delhi Distribution, the state-run firms -- BSES Yamuna Power Limited and BSES Rajdhani -- are the major power distribution companies in the national capital.

Meanwhile, union power ministry is also working on tariff policy to ensure compensation to consumers across India as part of its promise to provide 24/7 power supply by 2022.

First Published:Dec 19, 2018 9:13 PM IST