In a first, Delhiites may soon get compensation for unscheduled power cuts

New Delhi: In a major respite to residents in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has drafted a pro-consumer policy by which citizens would be compensated for ''unscheduled power cuts'' lasting longer than one hour.

The policy, which has been duly approved by the AAP government, now awaits a clearance from Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal's office.

According to reports, the policy to provide compensation to users in case of "unscheduled power cuts by the private power distribution companies" was cleared by the Chief Minister on Tuesday 

The file has now been sent to the Lt. Governor's office for approval, IANS reported.

According to the Delhi government's new policy, the discoms (power distribution companies) will have to restore the electricity within one hour in the event of an unscheduled power cut.

However, if they (discoms) fail to do so, a penalty of Rs 50 per hour per consumer for the first two hours and Rs 100 per hour per consumer after two hours will be imposed on them.

''The compensation would be provided to consumers in their monthly electricity bills, '' a statement issued by the AAP government said.

In case of a power cut, a consumer would be required to file a "no current" complaint through SMS, email, phone, mobile application or website and along with their name, Consumer Account (CA) number and mobile number.

The power distribution company would then attend to the complaint and send a confirmation message to the consumer with power restoration date and time.

The respective compensation amount would be then credited to the CA number automatically and a message would be sent to the consumer.

This amount would be then adjusted in the consumer’s monthly electricity bill.

The Arvind Kejriwal regime, which had slashed the power tariffs soon after it took over the reins in Delhi, has expressed confidence that its new pro-consumer policy would soon get the seal of approval from the LG's office.

"The Delhi government is confident that the LG will concur with the policy and endorse this pro-consumer step, which will become a model for other governments across the country to follow," the government release said.

(With IANS inputs)