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Disgruntled discoms plan to go to court
The latest policy directives issued by the Delhi government coupled with delay by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (DERC) in notifying the new Multi-Year Tariff (MYT) order has left the city’s power distribution companies a disgruntled lot.
After the penalty scheme for unscheduled power cuts, the discoms are now miffed at the government’s latest directive to DERC seeking discoms to pay 10 times the compensation amount to consumers for falsely charging them with power theft.
“At first it was the amnesty scheme of the government, which was extended thrice. During that scheme, although the three discoms earned Rs. 83.22 crore through resolution of grievances, we had to shell out much more in the form of waivers given to consumers. This amounted to over Rs. 100 crore. Now, we hear about this new policy of compensating consumers 10-times more than the usual amount,” said a discom official.
Meanwhile, the delay in notifying MYT regulations is pushing the process of this year’s tariff revision by the DERC.
What is also worrying the discoms is that the regulator is unlikely to make an upward revision in tariffs this year.
“Our regulatory assets until last year only had climbed up to Rs. 25,000 crore. And this year power demand has been more than 6,000 MW on more than one occasion. Non-reflective tariffs have resulted in incurring losses,” explained an official of another discom.
The discoms also highlighted the penalty scheme introduced by the DERC in May this year.
“Although the order has been issued. It can be implemented only if the final gazette notification comes. Once it comes, it is likely that the discoms will fight it in the court,” said a source in the discoms.
They have also demanded equal penalty clauses for failure on the part of the Delhi Transco limited (DTL), which is under the Delhi government. Patrik Nemeth Jersey
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