Discoms to pay you for service deficiency

VIJAYAWADA: With the latest amendment made by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) in the licensees’ Standards of Performance (SoP) regulation getting published in gazette, the commission on Sunday noted that the ‘revolutionary’ amendment will enable power consumers get entitled  to automatic compensation if distribution companies (Discoms) fail to meet the guaranteed standards. Though some key services have been included in the initiative now, the commission intends to bring other services under the automatic compensation mechanism in the future.

The Discoms will have to compensate the consumers for their failure to meet SoP in normal fuse-off calls, processing of application and intimation of relevant charges payable for new connection/sanction of additional load/demand, release of new connection/additional load upon payment of all charges, and wrongful disconnection of service/levy of reconnection charges without disconnection. 

The consumer will have to register a complaint and the Discoms will be liable to pay the compensation automatically. The commission has directed the Discoms to widely publicise the toll free number for grievance redressal.Explaining why the amendment was made, the APERC said it noticed that compensation claims by consumers, who were aggrieved by Discoms’ failure in meeting the guaranteed standards of performance, were very few. 

“Such fewer claims, despite the existence of SoP Regulation for more than 16 years, are not in the best interests of consumers. Therefore, the commission felt the need to prescribe automatic payment of compensation by the Discoms for their failure to meet the guaranteed standards of performance in respect of certain critical service areas, which is expected to push the power utilities to strive for improving their performance and enhancing their service standards,” it noted.

The power utilities will also have to submit reports on quarterly basis to the APERC indicating the cases in which compensation has been paid and denied. On scrutiny, the APERC will decide whether or not the denial is proper and issue directions accordingly. During force majeure events, the Discoms are required to issue public notices clearly specifying the intended date within which the services will be restored. “If services are not fully restored within the intended date mentioned by the Discoms, consumers shall be compensated for the same,” the commission stated.

However, the Discoms may be exempted from payment of compensation if the commission is satisfied that the failure in restoring the services within the intended date is due to reasons beyond Discoms’ control. “The amendment is revolutionary as it places the consumer at the centre and forces the Discoms to adopt a more consumer-centric approach.”