Kejriwal gives one week deadline to discoms to solve outages problem

In a stern warning to the private power distribution companies, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday gave deadline of one week to them to address the problem of outages saying government will not hesitate to cancel their licenses if they fail to comply with the directive.

The message was conveyed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a meeting that was attended by representatives of the private distribution companies BSES, Tata Power and also the chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission.

"Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal sets one week deadline for discoms to put an end to public inconvenience due to local electricity faults," Media advisor to CM, Nagender Sharma said in a tweet.

The city has witnessed large scale power cuts in the last few days mainly due to problem in transmission network of private discoms.

"The Delhi govt warns discoms it won't tolerate public inconvenience due to their inefficiency & won't hesitate to take extreme action," Sharma tweeted.

Power Minister Satyendra Jain said the policy on getting consumers compensated for unscheduled black outs will be implemented within a week and that Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission will issue a notification in this regard.

"The CM has given them (discoms) a week's time to take corrective measures while making it clear that strict action will be taken otherwise. We will not hesitate to consider cancelling their licenses.

"There's no shortage of power in the city but the outages are due to local faults. The compensation formula will be implemented within a week. The DERC will notify this within a week. Discoms will decide how to implement it," Jain told reporters.

A senior government official said the discoms could not offer a "single explanation" behind the outages despite there being no shortage of power in the national capital.

"The government has categorically asked them to set their house in order as people of Delhi will not suffer for the efficiency on their part," the official said.

Delhi's power demand hit an all-time peak of 6,188 MW on May 20, which is expected to rise by the month of July. Tuesday's peak load was relatively low at 4,834 MW, as the weather has slightly cooled down due to Monday's rain.