Before the government goes on to aggressively privatise the power-sector, it must pay attention to what is happening in Delhi. Many years after privatisation, the capital continues to be held to ransom by the private electricity firms. While the capital has eight to ten hours of power shedding everyday, the private electricity companies are refusing to buy electricity which is on offer, on the grounds that this is very expensive. The Sheila Dikshit government needs to take strict action against them and put in stringent service conditions to ensure that they do not repeat this behaviour. This has happened despite the government giving the companies big concessions and continuing to ignore serious matters such as their poor quality of service and energy meters which most consumers feel record the consumption of electricity incorrectly. In all the future privatisation deals, enough care has to taken to ensure the consumer interest is taken care of.
Ashwini Kumar, New Delhi
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