New Electricity rules give consumers across India the right to 24x7 supply

 

Buyers the nation over will currently reserve the privilege to a base norm of administration for supply of power. This will likewise incorporate the option to nonstop power supplies, except if expressed in any case for a particular class, for example, a farming association.

Reporting the warning of the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R K Singh stated, "Conveyance Companies the nation over are imposing business models – regardless of whether government or private – and the customer has no other option – consequently it was fundamental that the purchasers rights be set down in Rules and a situation for requirement of these rights be set up."

These standards accommodate Rights of customers and Obligations of Distribution licensees, arrival of new association and adjustment in existing association, metering course of action, Billing and Payment among others.

"The dispersion licensee will supply 24x7 capacity to all buyers. In any case, the Commission may determine lower long stretches of supply for certain classes of purchasers like agribusiness," an official assertion said. As indicated by Power Secretary, S N Sahai, this unwinding has been permitted since siphons do should be run 24x7 for providing water to fields.

The guidelines said that it is the obligation of each conveyance licensee to supply power on solicitation made by a proprietor or occupier of any premises in accordance with the arrangements of Act. Another association must be given inside a most extreme time span of seven days in metro urban communities, 15 days in other city zones, and 30 days in rustic zones.

These standards depend on the draft gave in September this year. Singh said that almost 100 recommendations were gotten on the draft and they have been joined in the last principles.

Reacting to a question from Business Standard on the enforceability of these principles by State government-controlled force circulation organizations (DISCOMs), Singh stated, "Power is a simultaneous subject and the middle has the ability to make decides that must be implemented by all. These rights have been advised and it is presently the duty of the DISCOMs to inform all buyers about them."

Singh said that the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions can determine stricter timetables and administration quality boundaries yet can't loosen up these Rights to buyers.

Govt's new move to revive discoms: Install 300 mn smart meters in 3 years

Company News

India is considering a plan to install smart meters in every home and business as part of its ongoing effort to turn around the country’s ailing power sector, according to officials with knowledge of the situation.The plan under consideration would require 300 million smart meters over three years, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The federal power ministry has begun discussions with manufacturers on supplying the meters, which improve efficiency by monitoring and transmitting power use data.
As part of the plan, the federal government is mulling providing subsidies to partially cover the costs, one of the officials said. Preliminary estimates by the government put the cost for the meters at about Rs 2,000 ($29) apiece, or $8.7 billion in total, according to one of the officials. That’s partly based on an expectation that prices would be lower than a smaller government tender for 5 million smart meters in 2017 at Rs 2,503.
The power ministry wasn’t immediately able to respond to requests for comment.Widespread use of smart meters could be a gamechanger for ailing Indian distribution utilities. These distributors lose nearly one-fifth of their revenue through various technical and commercial reasons including power theft or inefficient billing and collecting, according to the power ministry.
Their poor financial health prevents them from supplying uninterrupted power countrywide, which is needed to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s power-for-all goal. Other efforts to revive the distributors and spread access to power include promoting energy-efficient LED lighting, solar-power irrigation pumps and using insulated wiring to prevent theft.

 Some efforts to help have been slow achieving intended results. For instance, the combined losses of state distributors participating in a federal aid plan jumped 62% to about Rs 240 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year to March.

Inadequate tariff revision in FY20 a concern for discoms, says Icra

Economy & Policy:

Inadequate revision of rates alongwith delay in filing tariff petitions are likely to remain an area of concern in the financial year 2020 for distribution companies (Discoms), says a report.
Discoms have already managed to bring down its losses and debt levels significantly under the UDAY scheme.

According to the rating agency Icra, state distribution utilities in 17 of the 29 states have filed tariff petitions for FY20, reflecting less-than-satisfactory progress.

"The delay in filling of tariff petitions by the Discoms is a deviation from terms of the UDAY scheme, wherein they were required to file the plans in a timely manner so that the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) would issue the tariffs orders by March end," Icra said.
It further noted that tariff hikes proposed and approved for the past 2-3 years have remained lower than what was agreed under the UDAY, leading to persistent gap between average tariff and average cost of supply, though reducing from earlier years.

As per statistics, the median tariff hike for the Discoms at all India level has reduced from 8 percent for FY15 to 4 percent for FY16 and FY17 and further to 3 percent and one percent for FY18 and FY19, respectively.


 "We expect the tariff hike to remain subdued for FY20 as well, given the limited or no tariffs hikes proposed by most of the discoms and in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This is likely to slow down the process of financial loss reduction which was initiated by the UDAY measure," Icra senior vice president Sabyasachi Majumdar said.