Delhi consumers who didn’t pay bills get relief, helpline for power cuts
11 Jan 2014 6:14 AM IST
The chief minister also announced that 10,000 faulty electricity meters selected through random sampling method would be tested.
‘We will waive off electricity bills of the consumers who had not deposited their power bills since 23 March, 2013,’ said Kejriwal on Friday evening. He, however, did not reveal the number of consumers who will be benefited with this scheme. ‘There are many consumers who have not deposited their bills,’ he said, but emphasised that any person who didn’t deposit his bill before or after the cut off date will not be benefit from the waiver.
As per rules, if a person does not deposit his electricity bill on due date, the distributing company serves a notice of disconnection within three days. The person is given 15 days’ time to deposit the amount mentioned in the bill or face disconnection. ‘We don’t serve a second notice. It hardly takes one month from the expiry of the due date to disconnect power supply to consumers,’ said a senior officer of DISCOM. ‘If we go by the rules there’s hardly any chance of any ‘defaulter’ with a legal electricity connection for such a long time. He can initiate the process to waive off the penalties and withdraw criminal cases against consumers who had supported his call during protest days,’ added the officer. The opposition BJP, has, however slammed the move. ‘These are not ideal methods of governance. What if opposition asks consumers not to deposit bills till power tariff is not halved as was promised by Kejriwal?’ asked Harsh Vardhan, leader of opposition in Delhi assembly.
The CM has also asked consumers to complain to district commissioners against faulty meters. ‘We will randomly sort out 10,000 such complaints and the selected meters will be checked by an independent agency. If majority of meters are found faulty, they will be replaced,’ he added, but did not give any date for constitution of the agency or deadline for sending complaints. He also launched a helpline (9223166166) on which people can complain if there is a power cut in their area by sending SMS. ‘The complainant will have to SMS his name, location and time of power cut,’ he said.
‘We will waive off electricity bills of the consumers who had not deposited their power bills since 23 March, 2013,’ said Kejriwal on Friday evening. He, however, did not reveal the number of consumers who will be benefited with this scheme. ‘There are many consumers who have not deposited their bills,’ he said, but emphasised that any person who didn’t deposit his bill before or after the cut off date will not be benefit from the waiver.
As per rules, if a person does not deposit his electricity bill on due date, the distributing company serves a notice of disconnection within three days. The person is given 15 days’ time to deposit the amount mentioned in the bill or face disconnection. ‘We don’t serve a second notice. It hardly takes one month from the expiry of the due date to disconnect power supply to consumers,’ said a senior officer of DISCOM. ‘If we go by the rules there’s hardly any chance of any ‘defaulter’ with a legal electricity connection for such a long time. He can initiate the process to waive off the penalties and withdraw criminal cases against consumers who had supported his call during protest days,’ added the officer. The opposition BJP, has, however slammed the move. ‘These are not ideal methods of governance. What if opposition asks consumers not to deposit bills till power tariff is not halved as was promised by Kejriwal?’ asked Harsh Vardhan, leader of opposition in Delhi assembly.
The CM has also asked consumers to complain to district commissioners against faulty meters. ‘We will randomly sort out 10,000 such complaints and the selected meters will be checked by an independent agency. If majority of meters are found faulty, they will be replaced,’ he added, but did not give any date for constitution of the agency or deadline for sending complaints. He also launched a helpline (9223166166) on which people can complain if there is a power cut in their area by sending SMS. ‘The complainant will have to SMS his name, location and time of power cut,’ he said.
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