Power consumers in the Capital may soon be automatically compensated for outages in their homes, said state government officials aware of the matter, stressing that the plan will lead to benefits either way — reduce power bills, or ensure discoms minimise cuts.
To be sure, the Delhi power department has a provision since 2016 to offer the city’s consumers compensation on electricity bills, at ₹100 per hour of outage, if the power breakdown exceeds a stipulated time to fix the fault.
However, residents need to separately apply for this, which is cumbersome, and there is little awareness of the compensation policy in any case, officials said. To remedy this, the power department has sent a proposal to the Delhi government suggesting that the compensation be adjusted in bills automatically.
