OERC slaps case on Tata Power over lapses in services
The hearing on the matter has been scheduled for July 15. Citing a series of lapses by the four Tata Power-operated discoms, TPCODL, TPWODL, TPSODL and TPNODL, director (regulatory affairs of OERC) Priyabrat Patnaik has accused them of failing to uphold their licence obligations under the Electricity Act, 2003 and various OERC regulations, including the OERC (Condition of Supply) Code, 2019 and OERC (Standard of Performance) Regulation, 2004.
According to Section 43 of the Electricity Act, 2003, a licensee is bound to provide electricity to an applicant within one month of receiving a valid application. The OERC Supply Code also mandates that the licensee must upgrade and extend its distribution infrastructure to meet growing electricity demands.
The cost of upgrades are to be recovered from consumers via tariff proposals by submitting the annual revenue requirements (ARR) before the Commission. The petition by Patnaik stated OERC has received several complaints from consumers that the discoms are violating these provisions and licensees are prioritising financial considerations over infrastructure obligations by assessing the remunerativeness of new connections without accounting for projected load growth in underserved areas.
New applicants, especially those seeking single-phase connections, are reportedly being forced to bear the cost of transformer installations or upgradation, which, the petition said, is against regulatory mandates. 'Temporary power supply and new connections are now at the mercy of the section officials of the discoms,' it said.
Instances of mismanagement have also been flagged, including unreliable power supply, unmaintained infrastructure and poor consumer grievance redressal mechanisms. 'The lines and substations are not maintained properly and in many places creepers and tree branches are touching the HT lines leading to low and fluctuating voltage,' the petition stated.
Earlier, deputy chief minister and Energy minister KV Singh Deo had asked principal secretary Vishal Kumar Dev to examine the allegations made by former OERC member BC Jena on declining service quality under the Tata Power regime, and take appropriate action. Dev had also shot off a letter to the Tata Power CEO and MD on several issues regarding functioning of the discoms in the state.
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