Recovery of consumption deposit by DHBVN likely to hit consumers’ pocket

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Faridabad, November 17

The recovery process of the advance consumption deposit (ACD) by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) threatens to burn a hole in the pocket of over 65,000 consumers in the district.

Provision for refund

The provision of the advance consumption deposit (ACD) is not new and will help in recovering the difference if the value of the consumption of power is more than the security deposit of a consumer. The ACD will be refunded to the consumers, in case the situation is otherwise and will have no negative impact. — Naresh Kakkar, Superintending Engineer, DHBVN,

Sources in the department reveal the drive, which met with stiff opposition during the Covid pandemic and had to be dropped temporarily, has now been revived with the ACD amount being added to the bills of consumers. They state the ACD was introduced in 2019-20 in the wake of increased power consumption in various areas.

According to a circular recently issued by the department, the DHBVN aims to recover over Rs 126 crore via three installments, which will be added in the bills of customers. It is also revealed that the ACD, which is in addition to the security deposit collected at the time of the release of a connection, will make consumers pay an additional amount equivalent to the average bill of four months.

“Though the ACD review of the financial year 2021-22 has been stopped after the directions from the management, the ACD for 2022-23 can be started promptly in order to comply with the directions of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission,” stated a memo issued by the DHBVN on September 6.

It is learnt that although there is an automated provision of refund of such charges, the amount of the refund is set to be miniscule in comparison to the ACD charged via various installments added to the bills.

The recovery and refund amount limit will be Rs 2,500 per KW and Rs 3,000 per KW for domestic and non-domestic consumers, respectively, payable in three equal installments. The DHBVN is targeting to recover Rs 126.31 crore from a total of 65,397 consumers identified in Faridabad circle. As many as 7,398 consumers may get the refund to the tune of Rs 38.39 crore, according to the ACD review report.

A total of about Rs 670.92 crore is proposed to be recovered in all the DHBVN circles, including Gurugram, Palwal, Narnaul, Jind, Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Rewari and Sirsa while the refundable amount is calculated at Rs 157.32 crore.

Subhash Lamba, member of residents’ welfare association, Sector 3, Faridabad, said instead of giving relief, the government had imposed an additional burden on consumers, despite its claims of power corporations running in profit.

Naresh Kakkar, Superintending Engineer, DHBVN, said, “The provision of the ACD is not new and will help in recovering the difference if the value of the consumption of power was more than the security deposit of a consumer. The ACD will be refunded to consumers, in case the situation is otherwise and will have no negative impact.”