Give compensation to power consumers reeling from outages, says AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party, Haryana, has demanded compensation to consumers for power outages on the lines of the directive of the Delhi electricity regulatory commission for consumers in the national capital.

The Aam Aadmi Party, Haryana, has demanded compensation to consumers for power outages on the lines of the directive of the Delhi electricity regulatory commission for consumers in the national capital.

Residents of Gurgaon have been reeling from long power cuts ever since the onset of summer. (HT Photo)

The party on Friday shot off a letter to Haryana electricity regulatory commission (HERC) demanding compensation from power discoms, DHBVN and UHBVN, for outages beyond a stipulated time and other disruptions in supply that are not fixed within the period spelt out by the regulator.

In the letter, party state spokesperson RS Rathee said power consumers of Haryana are tired of complaining against frequent power cuts without any specific reason. He said it is certain that outages are due to local faults caused by poor maintenance.

“We urge HERC to initiate strict action as ordered by DERC for power supply in Delhi so that DHBVN and UHBVN are punished for careless attitude towards consumers,” Rathee said.

He said the main problem in urban areas is that in builder licensed areas, discoms are not taking any initiative to do proper maintenance and they put all responsibilities on the builders. He said to resolve this issue, there should be an official from the discom in licensed builder area to receive complaints.

The letter demanded a proper complaint centre to monitor complaints and the same should be rectified within a reasonable time period.

If the discom failed to pay fine to consumers for outages beyond the stipulated period, they should be allowed to approach consumer grievance redressal forums or the ombudsman and compensation should be five times the fine amount and be adjusted against current or future bills within 90 days.

DHBVN managing director Arun Kumar Verma said there is already provision of right to service in the HERC under which consumers are entitled to a compensation. He, however, said there is shortage of manpower to deliver proper service.