Summer cuts: discom,then chief fined

Arun Kanchan was asked to step down as chief executive officer (CEO) last week,following which the Anil Ambani-owned BSES named new CEOs for its two distribution companies BYPL and BRPL.

In the recent order,the DERC has also asked BSES Rajdhani (BRPL) to pay a hefty fine of Rs 1.68 crore for the “unprecedented loadshedding in June and for overdrawing in violation of grid codes.”

According to the Commission’s initial findings — a detailed probe is still on — the volume of loadshedding in June was 32.655 million units (MUs). Of this,24 MUs were in BRPL areas alone — South,Central and West Delhi.

After protests from citizens’ groups and warnings issued by the Delhi government,the DERC had issued a showcause notice to BRPL in September. The notice sought a response from BRPL and its CEO for the “failure to maintain grid discipline and for indulging in persistent overdrawal from the grid.” The company was also asked to explain why its licence should not be suspended.

In its order,the DERC dismissed BRPL’s reply,observing: “BRPL tried to blame everybody in the system except themselves”. BRPL has been held guilty of “672 violations (overdrawals) of the provisions of the grid code.” Each violation refers to a 15-minute period of overdrawal and has been penalised at Rs 25,000 per instance,the total amounting to Rs 1.68 crore. BRPL and Arun Kanchan have been directed to pay their fines by November 15.

Meanwhile,in order to ensure Delhi is not subjected to “reckless loadshedding” in future,DERC has also introduced stringent measures to curb the practice. These measures — which will be applicable to all discoms — include a penalty of Rs 5 lakh for every two lakh KVh units not supplied for any reason whatsoever. This penalty will be put into effect if disruption of power by a discom exceeds one per cent of the total energy supplied by them in a given month.

Discoms have also been directed by the DERC to install a terminal of their SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system in the Commission’s premises — so that the Commission “can monitor their systems for data manipulation.”

Discoms have been advised to strengthen their distribution networks in two months because the Commission will no longer accept breakdown of equipment as an excuse for loadshedding.

This order,sources said,will effectively change the way the power sector has functioned so far. A BRPL spokesperson said: “We have not entirely shut out the option of appealing against this order in the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity.”

BSES sources termed the order “unreasonable.” A senior official said: “We find it unfortunate that BSES has been singled out… All discoms violate the grid code.”

On whether Arun Kanchan is personally responsible for all this,a BSES official said,“It was a management failure and the company was aware of it. Kanchan was asked to step down because the company saw the DERC order coming.”

From the order: The overall conduct of BRPL and its CEO is one of utter disregard of their duties including their duty to maintain grid discipline.

BRPL did not arrange adequate power as per its requirement and depended on the grid as a source of power and overdrew recklessly in violation of the rules despite repeated messages from the State Load Despatch Centre.