Hyderabad: The Central government has proposed penalising power utilities for unscheduled power cuts.
The Union Cabinet will soon decide on a power ministry proposal that power utilities would be penalised for power cuts besides those caused by force majeure conditions like cyclones, technical faults, and power cuts scheduled and intimated in advance. The amount will be decided by each state’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERC). The penalty will be credited to consumers’ accounts or adjusted in their power bills.
Niti Aayog had proposed such penalties in its 2017 power reforms policy paper.
The Centre had intended implementing it in 2018, but dithered. Just before the Lok Sabha election, power minister R.K. Singh on April 1, 2019, announced it would be implemented.
A decision is now imminent. The Delhi government was to implement this system but the Delhi High Court stayed any such move.
Delhi ERC’s penalty was set at Rs 100 per hour.
For the first two hours, power utilities were to pay 50 per cent for unscheduled power cuts per hour, and 100 per cent for each subsequent hour. Compensation would be adjustable against future bills.
