Question : PERFORMANCE OF POWER DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES

(a) whether the Government has conducted performance review of the private power distribution companies;

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) the steps taken by the Government to protect the consumers from harassment by these companies?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF POWER ( SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH )

(a) & (b) : Distribution of electricity comes within the purview of the States. Accordingly, the Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) are regulated by the respective State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) under the provision of the Electricity Act, 2003. Government of India has not conducted performance review of private DISCOMs.

It has been informed by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) that in a survey carried out in early 2007, across over 10,000 domestic households, majority of the consumers preferred the private DISCOMs over the erstwhile Government entity. The consumers satisfaction assessed through the survey on a scale of 1 to 10 was in the range of 5.10 to 5.67 for the three utilities in Delhi. The survey brought out load shedding as major consumer concerns which were followed by metering and billing related problems.

Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has reported that the Commission has appointed Development Support Centre (DSC), Bhubaneshwar to conduct an extensive survey on consumer satisfactory.

(c) : Section 42 of the Electricity Act, 2003 provides for establishment of a forum for redressal of grievance of the consumers in accordance with the guidelines as may be specified by the State Commission. Further, any consumer, who is aggrieved by non-redressal of his grievances may make a representation for the redressal of his grievance to an authority to be known as Ombudsman to be appointed or designated by the State Commission. The Ombudsman shall settle the grievance of the consumer within such time and in such manner as may be specified by the State Commission. The consumer Protection Act, 1986 has been saved under the Act, which means redressal are available under that Act also.