Report of Indian Institute of Public Administration ... - Ministry of Power

State Reports (Vol.-III)
Study on `Impact of Restructuring of SEBs’
restructuring. More than one lakh consumer complaints related to billing issues in
2002-03 in respect of both the DISCOMs are still pending.
REGULATORY PROCESS
Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission has revised the distribution and retail
supply tariff only thrice in the last seven years. This is in spite of the increase in power
purchase expenses of the DISCOMs. In the tariff setting philosophy of the
Commission, it was envisaged that the tariff shall move towards cost to serve and
cross-subsidy shall be gradually removed. Since tariff setting process has virtually
come to a standstill, it has denied opportunities for bringing differential tariffs, e.g.
Time of Use/Time of Day for certain categories to flatten the load curve and reducing
the cross-subsidy.
The regulatory oversight and monitoring, which is a necessary requirement for the
sector, has been less effective, partly due to the attitude of the utilities towards the
directives issued by the Commission and inability of the Commission to enforce
compliance by the Government owned Utilities. This inherent dichotomy can be
addressed by mutual understanding of regulatory process and cooperation with the
Commission in achieving its objectives.
The Commission has not undertaken periodic assessment on the performance
standards set for the operations and service deliverable of the DISCOMs. This has
been partly responsible for the poor public responsiveness in the State towards the
mechanisms and regulatory oversight for bringing efficiencies in the sector.
There is a need for capacity building for the Commission since its present capacity in
terms of manpower is far too adequate to translate the objective of the EA, 2003.
Separate regulatory fund as required under the EA, 2003 has not been constituted by
the State.
ROLE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT
The study reveals that the reforms critically depend on the continued support and
strong commitment of the State Government. The Government is committed to
providing subsidy support to meet the cost of supply of power to the agricultural
consumers. The State has fulfilled this commitment by providing increased subsidy.
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