Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (Berc) would hold a public hearing on July 19 to decide the quantum of compensation to be claimed by power consumers for poor or delayed services by the state electricity board.

The Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) is the distribution licensee and provides various services to its consumers like rectification of fuse-off, redressal/ rectify-cation/replacement of overhead line or cable breakdowns, underground cable breakdowns, distribution transformer, meter complaints and voltage fluctuations.

According to the Bihar State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Standards of Performance of Distribution Licensee) Regulations, 2006, these services are to be provided within a stipulated time, failing which a consumer can claim compensation according to the regulation.

“We have initiated suo motu proceedings for effecting a suitable increase in compensation to be paid to the consumer in case of delay in providing service by the distribution utility. We have invited suggestions from power consumers and would organise an open public hearing for doubling the compensation amount,” Berc chairman U.N. Panjiar told The Telegraph.

The hearing would be held in the commission’s courtroom in the capital. Asked why the commission felt the need to effect an increase after four years, Panjiar said: “It has been witnessed that the compensation amount is very less and that’s why nobody claims it in the event of the board’s failure to provide service within a stipulated time. People generally think that why should they spend time, energy and money for a paltry sum of Rs 50 as compensation.”

The commission, for example, has now proposed the rectification of fuse-off within four hours in urban and within 24 hours in rural areas. The failure to rectify the fault or providing a service within the specified time, the board would have to give a consumer a compensation of Rs 25 for each day of default. Now, the commission has prescribed a hike of Rs 50 as compensation for each day to the consumer if he/she fails to get the service.

Consumers have welcomed the commission’s initiative to start proceedings to increase the compensation amount. “It has been four years since the compensation rates were announced. We will raise the issue during the hearing on July 19. I would request the commission to raise the compensation by more than double,” P.K. Sharma, a retired professor and power consumer activist, told The Telegraph.