CESU Proposes Corpus Fund For Victims Of Electrical Accidents

Bhubaneswar: The Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) today urged Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for collection of additional bill from consumers to meet the expenses of compensation being given to victims of electrical accidents.

The proposal came close on the heels of the bus electrocution incident in Ganjam district in which 10 persons were killed.

The hearing on the matter was held by the OERC today where the CESU authorities proposed for creation of a corpus fund in all discoms to give compensation to victims of electrical accidents.

The CESU proposed that Rs 1 can be collected from consumers by claiming it in their monthly bills. It has proposed inclusion of Rs 1 arrear in the tariff per month per consumer. The authorities said that the corpus fund will meet the compensation amount given to the victims of the electrical mishaps and urged the OERC to approve it.

During the hearing, the CESU authorities informed OERC that a decision on creation of the corpus fund was taken during a meeting over 5T initiative held under the chairmanship of energy department secretary on October 26, 2019. The CESU authorities also proposed for a hike in power tariff during the hearing today.

However, Electricity Consumers' Association strongly opposed the proposal of the CESU.

Electricity Consumers' Association, Ramesh Satpathy said termed CESU's proposal as unacceptable and said, "Why should consumers be bothered for any dereliction of duty by the electricity department officials?"

Notably, as many as 374 persons have died after coming in contact with live electric wire under CESU’s jurisdiction between 2010 and 2019.