The Hindu : New Delhi News : Power consumers' interests being ignored

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 08, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Power consumers' interests being ignored

Sujay Mehdudia

Delhi Government, DERC sitting over plan to ensure tamper-free meters for consumers

NEW DELHI: Once again highlighting the "indifferent attitude" towards protecting the interests of lakhs of power consumers in the Capital, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) and the Sheila Dikshit Government are dragging their feet over the issue of appointment of Accuracy Assurance and Inspection Staff to ensure supply of tamper-free electricity meters to consumers.

Interestingly, despite repeated reminders about putting in place such a mechanism amid demands from the consumers and the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) who are feeling the heat of fast-running meters and inflated bills, both DERC and the Delhi Government have preferred to sit tight on this consumer-friendly measure. What is surprising is that the matter had been brought to the notice of the Chief Secretary, S. Regunathan, and DERC on various occasions for the past almost eight months but no effort has been made to set the situation right. Instead, all efforts are being made to protect the interests of one of the leading Mumabi-based discoms that by all accounts has failed to perform effectively and has a high rate of dissatisfaction among consumers. A recent independent survey had highlighted growing dissatisfaction among the consumers.

No response

"We had taken the initiative to put in place such a mechanism last year. We had also written to the Chief Secretary as well as DERC but nothing has moved to put in place this practise that is consumer-friendly and increase the confidence levels among the discoms and their people using their services. We are even ready to involve voluntary consumer protection bodies as well RWAs in this endeavour but the response has not been encouraging. Despite this our meters are being tested by an independent agency at our own initiative," said North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) CEO Anil Sardana.

Under this new regime aimed at winning the trust of the consumers, the Delhi Government and DERC would have had to deploy their Accuracy Assurance and Inspection Staff unit at the supply end of the meters who would then put an indestructible DERC seals on each and every meter dispatched from the various manufacturers.

However, the response of DERC and Delhi Government has been poor and nothing has moved at Mr. Regunathan's end also.

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