Now, pay nothing for power connection transfer in Chandigarh

Dushyant Singh Pundir

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 5

Now, power consumers will not have to pay for the transfer of electricity connection in case of change of ownership of the property. The directions were issued by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) after amending the Electricity Regulations.

The security deposit

in the name of the preceding consumer shall stand transferred in the name of the applicant and no additional security deposit shall be taken if the consumer continues with the same load. – Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission

In a petition filed to the commission, Kulbir Singh Brar, a local resident, had submitted that the UT Electricity Department had imposed a sum of Rs 76,000 on him for the transfer of electricity connection in his name.

“The security deposit in the name of preceding consumer shall stand transferred in the name of the applicant and no additional security deposit shall be taken if the consumer continues with same load,” stated the commission.

The JERC further states that if the property is being transferred in the name of multiple owners, the connection will be transferred in the name of first owner, if connection is requested to be transferred in the name of the second co-owner, then the same shall be accepted on receipt of a no objection certificate (NOC) from other co-owners, and if other co-owners, up to two, of the property want to add their name to the electricity connection, they shall apply jointly for name change.

Also, no NOC will now be required from the registered consumer/authorised person/previous occupant of the premises for cases involving transfer of security deposit in the name of applicant.

“Prepaid meters installed will be exempted from security deposit while ensuring sufficient advance payment thereof,” stated the JERC.

“Pre-payment meters will be designed to automatically cut off supply when the amount credited is exhausted. This shall, however, not be treated as a disconnection and the supply will be resumed whenever the meter is recharged,” stated the JREC.

Providing relief to consumers on late payment charges, the commission stated: “In case of the delay in serving a bill by more than 60 days, the consumer should be given the option to pay the bill in monthly instalments without any late payment surcharge, fine or penalty”.

On initial period of agreement, the commission clarifies that the “initial period of agreement” means the period of six months in case of LT supply, one year in case of HT supply and two years in case of EHT supply starting from the date of commencement of supply as per agreement. The initial period of agreement shall continue till the end of billing cycle, in which the end date of the six months/one/two year’s period expires.

On calculating the total load, the commission stated that for domestic connections, the higher of the cooling load (air conditioners, coolers etc) or heating load, excluding equipment used for cooking (geysers, heating rod etc) only will be taken for determination of total load.