Kejri warns discoms again, says will be made to pay even for 1-hr-long outage

In a stern warning to discoms, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said they will be made to compensate consumers for even one-hour-long outage if they do not spruce up their supply network in the next six months.

The warning has come in the wake of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) issuing an order to discoms and power distribution companies to compensate consumers for unscheduled outages extending up to two hours. Penalties can go up to Rs 100 per hour.

Kejriwal said there is need to make discoms “accountable for outages” and then, Delhiites will be benefited from the privatisation of power sector.

“For now, we have asked discoms to compensate consumers for unscheduled power cuts extending up to two hours, but after six months if there is no improvement in their power supply network, government will bring it down to one hour norm,” he said here.

“The privatisation of power sector had been done in order to provide better facility of electricity to Delhiites,” Kejriwal said, adding that the accountability of power distribution companies will be questioned if power outages continue.

“Why electricity wires and transfers get damaged only in Delhi? Why is there no such incidents in Washington, London and New York?” he asked.

“We will also make Delhi a world-class city and for this, the accountability of discoms should be fixed for power outages. They should be penalised for outages. There will then be benefit of privatisation of power sector in the national capital,” he added.

As per the DERC’s order issued on Monday, power distribution companies will have to compensate to consumers for unscheduled power cuts extending up to two hours.

The move followed frequent power outages this month in the midst of an intense heatwave. However, power companies had attributed the blackouts to local faults.