Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman Nand Lal Sharma said that maximum use of Information Technology (IT) should be made in redressal of complaints of electricity consumers and complete updates should be given to the consumer from the time of filing his complaint till its redressal.
Shri Sharma was presiding the 30th State Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting of HERC on Friday. On the occasion, HERC Member (Technical) Naresh Sardana and Member (Law) Mukesh Garg, DHBVN Managing Director P.C. Meena Including maximum members of SAC were present.
It is noteworthy that Section 87 of the Electricity Act, 2003 provides for the formation of SAC and Section 88 talks about the objectives of SAC, major questions of policy , matter relating to quality , continuity and extent of service provided by the licences , protection of consumers interest and electricity supply and overall standards of performance by utilities are discussed in this meeting. The Chairman of HERC is an ex-officio Chairman of this committee, both the members are ex-officio members and the Secretary Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution System is also its ex-officio member. This committee has a maximum of 21 members.
HERC has to decide the new tariff rates for the new financial year i.e. 2024-25, for which a public hearing was already held on February 8 , wherein the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) petitions of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) were heard .
Before issuing the said comprehensive ARR order, HERC called SAC meeting and took cognizance of the matter/issues deliberated during the said meeting.Chairman and members of HERC asked senior officials of Haryana Vidut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN), Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL), UHBVN and DHBVN regarding status of service to be provided to the electricity consumers in the better ways , in response to which the officials of the power utilities gave appropriate answers.
HERC Chairman Sharma also directed to conduct technical audit of all the thermal plants under HPGCL and asked to develop mechanism for local vendors instead of Chinese machinery for spare parts of the said plants.He further directed for Improving the efficiency through smart metering.
HERC member Naresh Sardana directed to ensure the implementation of the orders of the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) , and also directed HPGCL to plan in advance regarding the operation and shutdown of its plants so that there is no interruption in the power supply.
HERC member Mukesh Garg stressed on taking necessary steps to reduce line losses. DHBVN MD P.C.Meena said that they are fully committed to provide better service to the consumers and will definitely improve their consumer service rating to provide better and uninterpreted power supply , additionally UHBVN Director Ashwini Raheja said that the line losses of UHBVN have been reduced significantly and in future they will come in single digits only.
On this occasion, HERC Secretary Narendra Kumar, Electricity Ombudsman Virendra Singh, Director (Tariff) Sanjay Varma and all senior officials of HERC were present.