Arvind Kejriwal got the go ahead from Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for the plan today.
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has agreed that discoms should pay for unscheduled power cuts, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted today. The approval gives a green signal to the party's efforts to staunch the chorus of complaints from across Delhi about spiraling power cuts this summer. With temperatures hitting mid-40s, the national capital has been the nation's largest power consumer over the last few days.
After the meeting with Mr Baijal, the Chief Minister tweeted:
The Lieutenant Governor, though had a rider -- that the Delhi government develop a "rational,fair & enforceable model"
While the capital's power demand had peaked at 6,500 Megawatts a day, the Delhi government says there isn't a shortage. The problem lies in the distribution system, in which the old equipment - transformers and power cables - malfunction due to the searing heat.
The government's solution was to make the power discoms pay. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said the government had ordered discoms to inform consumers through text messages ahead of a scheduled outage. The government also asked the companies to report an unscheduled power cut to it the next morning.
The government has also been trying to revive a rule under which discoms have to compensate for outages that last more than 2 hours.
Over the last few days, many areas in Delhi have complained of power cuts that last for as long as six hours. Discoms say they have identified 900 points across the city where the supply lines are weak, but improving them needs a huge expenditure.