Consumer power rests on knowing your rights
Landmark Judgment: KIC Orders Bescom To Pay Rs-50 Compensation For Long Outage
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOI/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIBG&login=default
S Kushala | TNN
Bangalore: You may remember cursing Bescom when there was a 21-hour power
outage on April 29 and 30 last year. But this 73-year-old man did something
more — he found out there is a provision for consumers to get compensation if
power supply is interrupted beyond certain hours.
And after a nine-month rigmarole, he got Bescom to pay him a penalty of Rs
50 for the marathon power shutdown.
Meet septuagenarian C H Ram, a resident of ST Bed Layout, Koramangala, whose
casual application to Bescom claiming compensation for erratic power supply
transformed into a landmark judgment by the Karnataka Information Commission
(KIC). Ram and six others were given a rebate of Rs 50 in their January power
bill. The compensation was adjusted following a direction from KIC.
Consumers are entitled to compensation if there is a long, unscheduled power
cut at home. If the outage extends beyond six hours, Bescom is liable to pay a
penalty of Rs 50. Under the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC)
regulations of 2004 (licensees standards of performance), deficiency of service
attracts a penalty.
“There is no awareness among consumers about the rules. Bescom or other power
supply companies have to cough up penalties in case of delay of various
services like undue power outage, providing connections, etc. There have been a
few cases in the past where people had applied for compensation for delay in
fresh connections,’’ Y G Muralidharan, consultant (consumer advocacy), KERC,
told The Times of India.
The KERC’s schedule on the Standards of Performance covers penalty on a host of
other
deficiencies — scheduled outages, voltage variations when no expansion or
enhancement of network is involved and metering complaints. Following the power
outage, Ram wanted to know if he is entitled to any compensation for the power
disruption and wrote to the Bescom executive engineer. The authorities replied
there is no such provision and attached a KERC regulation copy. Upon keen
reading, Ram noticed the clause which clearly spoke about the penalty paid by
the electricity supply companies.
He filed an RTI application and during the hearing, the engineer said he had no
powers to remit the money. Subsequently, KIC ordered the case be transferred to
the Bescom managing director.
“When the meter reader came home this month to do the January billing, he
adjusted Rs 50 in the bill. On February 16, Bescom sent me a letter about the
compensation being paid, which was credited in the power bill,’’ says Ram. “It
was very tiresome. But once I got to know about the rules, I wanted to take
this issue to the logical end,’’ he added.
THE RULEBOOK
Penalty is a standard Rs 50 across line breakdowns and distribution transformer
failures
The penalty, if cleared, has to be adjusted in the electricity bill for the
month
Notified power shutdown (in Bangalore, it is a norm during weekends) doesn’t
attract penalty
You can be compensated if there is outage for:
Beyond 6 hrs in cities and towns due to tree fall
Due to transformer/pole problem beyond 10 hours in urban areas
Beyond 24 hours in rural areas
C H Ram
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