By Sanjay Paul
There are good tidings for Goa power consumers irked by frequent disruption of power supply as per a JERC proposal the electricity department may have to start paying compensation for power outages that last longer than three minutes.
The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) moved the proposal in the draft Standards of Performance for Distribution Licensees, Regulations 2024.
The draft which will come into force once it is notified by the Government proposes that the electricity department pay up towards damages to customers “for sustained interruptions (each longer than three minutes) during the average interruption duration period to those customers who experience disruptions.
The average interruption duration is to be fixed by the department through the Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) submitted at the time of filing the annual revenue requirement says the draft.
The document aims at ensuring the licensee (electricity department) meets the specified standards laid down for discoms of licensees. As per the draft the payment to the consumers must be made within 90 days from the date of violation of the standards. Further in case the licensee fails to pay the compensation amount the customer can approach the respective Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum to seek compensation.
It says: ‘Consumers shall be automatically compensated for parameters which can be monitored remotely and when it can be successfully established that there is a default in performance of the distribution licensee. The draft SOP lays down the rates of compensation for every complaint made by the consumers.
For example: Testing of the electricity meters have to be attended to in 30 days of lodging a complaint with a compensation rate of Rs 100 for each day of default.
For power supply failure in case of fuse blowing out or tripping in the circuit breaker the complaint must be attended within 4 hours in urban areas and 12 hours in remote areas with the department having to pay Rs 40 for each hour of default.
The compensation from the department is as high as Rs 1000 for each day of default for failure of a power transformer.
The draft SOP is for Goa and Union Terrotories under the jurisdiction of the JERC.
