Power minister agrees to change ‘archaic’ rules

Consumer activists were demanding change as per the need of the time

For being incompetent to meet the electricity demands of its consumers, the state government has decided to rephrase its half a century old regulations.

The regulations that had made it difficult for the consumers to obtain more than 10KW capacity diesel generator (DG) sets has been increased to 200KW by Energy Minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Tuesday.

DNA on Monday in its article ‘Government calls activist to discuss archaic power rules’ had highlighted the hurdles faced by consumers as the government is yet to do away with its half-a-century-old regulations.

During half-an-hour meeting on Tuesday with the state government officials including the minister, consumer activists pleaded that the 1956 rules must be rephrased.

Ashok Pendse, member of the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat said that the regulations were outdated as things had changed over the last five decades.

Also, with the power scenario unlikely to improve till the next five years, it is time the government changed its archaic regulations.

Walse-Patil said, “The government cannot help consumers from power cuts. But we will try to relax the
procedural hurdles. The permissible limit for obtaining a DG set will be increased to 200kW.”

“Consumers who wanted permission to install higher capacity DG sets (more than 100KW) had to bear unending procedural hurdles like submitting large number of documents including their electricity bills, no-objection certificate from the MSEB, factory plant, machinery details, etc,” Pendse said.

An official at the meeting said the minister assured that for consumers requiring more than 200kW DG sets would be required to submit a safety certificate authorised by a registered electrical contractor which could be considered as de facto permission.

Rahul Asthana, principal energy secretary told DNA that since the regulations are from the central government the state would under section 133 relax the rule.

“Consumers can energise their DG sets up to 200kW and within certain stipulated time will have to obtain necessary safety certificate from the chief electrical inspector,” Asthana said.