LPG ‘portability’ soon, will let you switch distributors
The petroleum ministry plans to launch LPG portability in the country, through which consumers will be able to switch LPG gas distributors. This was done after consumers complained of problems as distributors were not supplying LPG cylinders on time.
Petroleum minister M. Veerappa Moily launched a pilot project on LPG portability in Chandigarh on Friday, and said this “will be extended to at least 25 more districts” in the next fiscal year. These will be among the districts where the government will launch direct cash transfers. LPG portability will be extended across the country in a phased manner.
The government expects portability will put pressure on distributors to provide better services to customers. At present, three PSU oil marketing companies — IOC, HPCL and BPCL — home-deliver three million LPG cylinders every day.
At first, the customer will only be able to switch distributors within the same company, but later it will be possible to switch companies as well. “The problem is that if a HPCL customer wants to switch to, say, BPCL, the customer, as per the law, must deposit the cylinder with HPCL. It is a cumbersome process, which we think will defeat the purpose of launching portability. We are looking how we can resolve this issue. That is why initially we have only allowed portability within companies across their distributors,” said a senior petroleum ministry official.
Mr Moily said a pool of two to three dealers will be cleared for every locality in the district, and consumers will have the option of choosing from this cluster.
Post new comment