Time to bear load

With the Congress now in control in the Capital state, theCentral Government is egging it to reform the system and threatening it with apocalyptic situations. But it is to the credit of the nascent Congress government that it has introduced reform-oriented schemes within a month of taking charge. Something which the BJP government under Sahib Singh Verma couldn8217;t manage in five years.

Union Power Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam shot off a letter to Chief Minister Sheila Dixit recently outlining the power problems and urging her to initiate reforms in the sector. She replied by saying that her government should not be blamed for its predecessors8217; mess.

The Indian Express discussed the Delhi power situation with Kumaramangalam and Delhi8217;s Power Minister, Narendra Nath, to get both sides of the story.

The power situation has deteriorated. Delhi will face a severe crisis in summer.
Nath8217;s reply: Yes, power is a problem. But what did the BJP do about it in the past five years when it was ruling? Delhi owes Rs 7,500crore to generating companies because nobody paid in the past few years.

The level of losses is very high as payment is received on only 40 per cent of the power sold.
Reply: That is a problem. We have now introduced a scheme of single-point metering. This means that the while the DVB will be responsible for taking the power up to a residential complex or an industrial area, distribution within it will be done by the consumers. This will ensure that the consumers keep a check on power theft.

The DVB will also give a discount of 15 per cent on the total bill, which will go towards the cost of maintaining the system. It will install a transformer, but will not be responsible for replacing it if something goes wrong because of overloading or other reasons. If consumer groups are not willing to take on the responsibility, we will hand over the charge to a private party on a joint venture or a contract type of agreement.

The existing power network is veryweak. It cannot take more than 1,400 MW of power satisfactorily from outside sources whereas the peak demand in Delhi would rise to 2,700 MW this summer.
Reply: The equipment is very old in Delhi and we need fresh investment to make it efficient. The Delhi government will come out with a White Paper on reforms which will tackle issues like this.

The Delhi government has done nothing to set up a State Electricity Regulatory Commission SERC which will rationalise tariffs and oversee reforms in the power sector. Under this, the DVB can split into different entities to tackle distribution, generation and regulation separately.
Reply: The Central legislation on these issues was moved when the BJP government was in power. The Sahib Singh government did nothing about it despite reminders from the Central Government. The Delhi government is now coming out with a White Paper which will lay down all the steps being planned for power reforms.