THE LESA’s power load enhancement exercise took a new turn on Wednesday with the Lucknow Distribution Company filing a review petition with the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) requesting it to review its Tuesday’s stay order.
The UPERC issued an order on Tuesday restoring a status quo ante on load enhancement drive. However, the Lucknow Discom filed a review petition stating that it had followed all the rules while increasing consumers’ load in LESA’s Circle-3.
Talking to the Hindustan Times, Lucknow Discom MD BB Singh confirmed that the review petition was filed. “We did issue to over 1500 consumers through UPC and we submitted proofs to the Commission,” he said. Singh said they were bound to implement the Commission’s stay order if it rejected their review petition.
UPERC Chairman Vijoy Kumar said the petition had not yet been put before him.
He said the Commission’s only concern was that the licensee followed the procedure while increasing or decreasing load. “If LESA had followed that procedure, let it satisfy us,” he said.
In another development, a day after the UPERC stayed LESA’s load enhancement drive terming it as illegal, the UP Electricity Safety Directorate also asked LESA to follow the procedure laid down for increasing and decreasing load.
The Directorate also asked the LESA chief general manager to immediately submit a report on how consumers’ load was increased in LESA’s Circle-3, ignoring the rules.
In another development, a day after the UPERC stayed LESA’s load enhancement drive terming it as illegal, the UP Electricity Safety Directorate also asked LESA to follow the procedure laid down for increasing and decreasing load.
The Directorate also asked the LESA chief general manager to immediately submit a report on how consumers’ load was increased in LESA’s Circle-3, ignoring the rules.
In a letter to LESA CGM, Safety Directorate, director Vijay Kumar Khanna said he would like to draw his attention to Clauses 4.41 and 4.43 of Electricity Supply Code-2005 under which a licensee could increase or decrease consumers’ power load only after completing certain formalities including a work completion and test report from the authorised electricity contractor.
He asked him to ensure that rules were followed while carrying out any exercise related to increasing and decreasing load.
The Directorate issued these orders after UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parisahad (UPRVUP) president Awadhesh Kumar Verma made a complaint to it on March 23.