Electricity ombudsman sets aside forum order
Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune news service
Chandigarh, November 12
In a major jolt to the power consumers, the ombudsman for the state of Goa and union territories has ordered the Electricity Department that advance consumption deposit (ACD) charges to be levied on the consumers should be calculated on the basis of bimonthly consumption i.e. 60 days before changing the names of the electricity meters.
The ombudsman issued the order while disposing of an appeal filed by Kulbir Singh Brar, a resident of Sector 36-D, against the order of the Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum (CGRF) dated August 7, 2019, in which the latter had directed the department that the charges should be calculated on the basis of monthly consumption. Though the forum gave relief to the consumer by reducing the ACD charges from Rs 73,757 to 36,841, the latter was not satisfied and challenged the order.
Brar applied for the change of name in the meters after the death of his father. The main contention of the consumer was that the department could not charge anything just for changing the names in the meters from father to son.
In the petition filed before the forum and ombudsman, Brar said his father had already deposited the security amount when the connection was installed at the house. Moreover, he had also not applied for a new connection. So, charging anything extra was illegal and wrong.
Brar has three electricity meters on three floors of his house with different loads. In the demand notice, the Electricity Department calculated the security amount of one meter (load 06.90 KW) Rs 14,540, second meter (load 15.06KW) Rs 32,896 and third meter (load 12.10 KW) Rs 26,246.
On the other hand, the department claimed that the charges were levied on the formula approved by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission. According to the provisions in the Clause 5.88 (2) of the Supply Code Regulation, 2018, the ACD charges should be calculated on the basis of the expected average bills of two months. Since the appellant had applied for change of name for three electricity meter connections, the security deposit had been worked out to be around Rs 73,757.
The ombusdman in the order said these regulations safeguarded the interest of the Electricity Department and consumers. In view of the above position, the order passed by the Chandigarh is set aside. The Electricity Department should calculate the security deposit amount strictly as per the supply code and taking a period of 60 days in the present case. The average billing rate (ABR) as approved by the commission in tariff order for domestic category should be taken as ‘current tariff’ for uniformity, easy calculations and for better understanding by consumers, the order said.
It further said if any action was initiated for reviewing the ACD charges in terms of the orders of the CGRF, then the same would become a precedent for further cases to come and would create a chaos. The decision will affect more than two lakh consumers.
CGRF order had said charges should be calculated on monthly basis
The ombudsman issued the order while disposing of an appeal filed by Kulbir Singh Brar, a resident of Sector 36-D. The Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum (CGRF) in its order dated August 7, 2019, had directed the department that the charges should be calculated on the basis of monthly consumption. Though the forum gave relief to the consumer by reducing the ACD charges from Rs 73,757 to Rs 36,841, the latter was not satisfied and challenged the order.
