Before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Room No. 208 2^nd Floor, District Administrative Complex, Tarn Taran

Consumer Complaint No  : 105 of 2018

Date of Institution                      :  04.10.2018

Date of Decision               :  20.01.2020

Shamsher Singh son of Sh. Charan Singh Resident of Village Khadoor Sahib, District Tarn Taran..

                                                                                      ......Complainant

                                                Versus

S.D.O., Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. Sub Division, Khadoor Sahib, Village Khadoor Sahib, District Tarn Taran.

                                                                                      .....Opposite Party.

Complaint Under Section  12, 13 and 14 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Quorum:               Sh. Charanjit Singh, President

Smt. JaswinderKaur, Member

For Complainant                     Sh. H.S. SandhuAdvocate

For Opposite Party                           Sh. SP Singh LahriAdvocate

ORDERS:

Charanjit Singh, President;

1        The complainant Shamsher Singh has filed the present complaint against the opposite party on the allegations that the complainant is having domestic electricity connection having account No.T64KB174359A installed at his house at village Khadoor Sahib, and as such, is consumer of the opposite party and had been paying the electricity bills for the electricity consumed by him at his house. The complainant had no arrears of previous electricity bills for the consumption of the electricity and as such, he is not defaulter of any bills demanded by the opposite party. The opposite party had been issuing the electricity bills for the consumption of electricity power with average in months of winter in between Rs. 4,500/- to 5,000/- and in the months of summer, the bills are being sent for Rs.5,000/- and as such the complainant has been paying for the consumption averaging from 4,500/- to Rs.5,000/- as per the reading of the meter installed by the opposite party for his electricity connection and the meter number being 465353. The above mentioned meter was damaged due to fire in the month of April, 2018 and became inoperative and as such, the complainant approached the opposite party for replacing the burnt meter with a new one and as such also deposited Rs.520/- vide receipt No.467 dated 30.04.2018 being fee for a new meter. The opposite party did not replace the burnt meter with new one rather started demanding average bill from the complainant, the demand being much more than the previous average of the consumption in terms of units and amount thereof which is very much evident from the bills issued by the opposite party for the month of May 2018 being Rs.9,370/- for July, 2018 of Rs.14,560/- and finally Rs.34,620/- vide bill dated 21.09.2018. The amounts demanded vide these bills are approximately 3 to 7 times more than the previous consumption average i.e. for the period before the meter was damaged and as such, these bills have been demanded although an average bills as per these bills but without any justification for this average. Moreover, the opposite party had not installed the electricity meter inspite of having received the fee for new one, thereby causing mental pain and harassment to the  complainant inspite of several visits at the Sub Division and also has caused a lot of financial loss and unnecessarily liabilities by demanding excessive electricity bills without any basis for these and the complainant had been approaching the opposite party regarding these grievances but no heed was given to these by the opposite party.  The complainant approached the opposite party on 26.09.2018 after he was very much embarrassed on receiving bill dated 21.09.2018 of Rs.34,620/- so as to request to withdraw the bill dated 21.09.2018 and issue him a new bill as per the average of the previous bills before meter being burnt and also requested to install a new meter for  the connection but the opposite party threatened the complainant that the power supply of the complainant will be disconnected if the complainant does not pay the bill. The complainant has prayed that the opposite party may be directed to withdraw the bill dated 21.9.2018 amounting to Rs. 34,620/- and to refund the amount of Rs. 15,000/- as charged over and above the average bills and to install a new meter immediately and not to disconnect the electricity connection. The complainant has also prayed Rs. 20,000/-  as compensation and Rs. 10,000/- as litigation expenses. Alongwith the complaint, the complainant has placed on record affidavit of complainant Ex. C-1, self attested copy of bill dated 8.11.2017 Ex. C-2, self attested copy of Bill dated 9.1.2018 Ex. C-3, self attested copy of bill for the month March 2018 Ex. C-4, self attested copy of receipt dated 30.4.2018 Ex. C-5, Self attested copy of bill for the month of May 2018 Ex. C-6, Self attested copy of bill for the month of July 2018 Ex. C-7, Self attested copy of Bill dated 21.9.2018 Ex. C-8.

2        After formal admission of the complaint, notice was issued to Opposite Party and opposite party appeared through counsel and filed written version contesting the complaint by taking preliminary objections that the present complaint is not maintainable in the eyes of law. The complainant has filed a wrong and baseless complaint against the opposite party just to harass him. The complainant has not come to this Forum with clean hands and has suppressed the material facts from this Forum. On merits, it was pleaded that non-replacement of the burnt meter is due to non-availability of the new meters. The previous load of the meter was 1.50 K.W. which was extended to 3.32 KW in the month of November, 2017 and after the extension of the load, the average consumption of the said meter was calculated as per the extended load i.e. 3.32KW instead of 1.50 KW as per the rules of the opposite party. The average bill was sent after November, 2017 was calculated as per the sanctioned load of the meter which is 3.32 KW, hence the opposite party and legally and as per rule of the board of opposite party has rightly sent the bills of May, 2018, July 2018 and 21.09.2018. The disputed bill is justified as sent by the opposite party as due to the non- availability of the meter to the department, the department has not installed the new meter and the opposite party is not on fault, hence the question of causing mental, pain and harassment and financial loss to the complainant does not arise. The complainant approached the department regarding the grievances and the official of the opposite party told to the complainant that his bill is correct as he has applied for the extension of load to the department and on his request the department has extended the load to 3.32 KW on 21.08.2017 and the complainant has also deposited Rs.2,410/- fee for extension of load, hence the bill is calculated as per the extended load but the complainant  unnecessarily filed the complaint to harass the opposite party which very much clear from the documents Ex.-C2, Ex.-C3, EX.-C4 attached by the complainant in the said complaint. The opposite party is ready to install the new meter when the opposite party received the new meter from the department.The opposite party has every legal right to disconnect the connection, if the rules and regulations allowed to do so.The opposite party has denied the other contents of the complaint and prayed for dismissal of the complaint. Alongwith the written version, the opposite party has placed on record self attested copy of application for extension of load and depositing of amount of extension of load Ex. OP-1, Self attested copy of reading record register of the complainant from 3/2017 to 3.1.2019 Ex. OP-2. Self attested copy of calculation sheet Ex. OP-3, Self attested copy of electricity supply Manual 2017, Affidavit of MandeepKaur SDO PSPCL Sub Division Khadoor Sahib Ex. OP-5.

3        We have heard the Ld. counsel for the parties and have gone through the record placed on the file by both the parties.

4        In the present complaint, the case of the complainant is that he is receiving excess bill than the bills which he has received in previous months and in the winter months he is receiving the bill in between Rs. 4500 to Rs. 5000/- and in the summer months he is receiving the bills of Rs. 5000/-. On the other hands case of the opposite parties is that the previous load of the meter was 1.50 K.W. which was extended to 3.32 KW in the month of November, 2017 and after the extension of the load, the average consumption of the said meter was calculated as per the extended load i.e. 3.32KW instead of 1.50 KW as per the rules of the opposite party. The average bill was sent after November, 2017 was calculated as per the sanctioned load of the meter which is 3.32 KW, hence the opposite party rightly and legally and as per rule of the board of opposite party has sent the bills of May, 2018, July 2018 and 21.09.2018. The disputed bill is justified as sent by the opposite party as due to the non- availability of the meter to the department, the department has not installed the new meter and the opposite party is not at fault.  The opposite party has also placed on record Ex. OP-2 in which it is mentioned that the opposite party is sending the bill on average basis by mentioning the status of the meter as ‘R’ from the month May 2018 up till January 2019. The complainant has deposited Rs. 520 vide receipt No. 467 dated 30.4.2018 vide Ex. C-5 being the fee for a new meter and requested the opposite party to install the new meter. But the opposite party has not installed the new meter and it means the complainant has given information to the opposite party much prior and thereafter, it is the duty of the opposite party to obey the mandatory provisions of the Electricity Board i.e. to replace the meter within 10 days from the date of receipt of the complaint, to that effect, we take an opportunity to refer Supply Code 2014, effective from 01.01.2015, wherein Clause 3 (3.1), under the Heading 'Complaints About Meters', is as under:-

“The distribution licensee shall inspect and chek correctness of a meter within seven working days of receipt of a complaint or report by its authorized official/officer/representative. If the meter is defective (i.e. it is struck up, running slow, fast or creeping), the distribution licensee shall replace the meter within ten working days of receiving the complaint.”

5. It is clearly established that the opposite party has to obey the statutory provision of the Electricity Board/Power Corporation, but for the best known reason, the opposite party has miserably failed to comply the said provisions and as such, the opposite party is negligent in providing services to the complainant.

6        Apart from above, the OP continuously sending the average bill to the complainant since from the month May 2018 which is quite evident from the reading register of opposite party Ex. OP-2. We have gone through the aforesaid data sheet and find that no consumption of the unit has been shown rather all the bills sent to the complainant on average basis by mentioning the status of meter ‘R’. Further, as per 'Electricity Supply Code' and 'Related Matters Regulations 2007', wherein Clause 21.5.2 itself gave a direction to the employee of the Punjab State Corporation that “in case of dead or stop meter the accounts of the consumer shall be overhauled for the period meter remained defective/dead stop, subject to maximum period of six months”, but in this case, the OP has been charged on the basis of average bill for more than six months, which is again against the regulations 2007 and in support of this observation, we like to made reliance upon a pronouncement of our Hon'ble State Commission, cited in 2003(1) C. P. C. 310, titled as “Shingara Singh Vs. Punjab State Electricity Board and Another”, wherein his Lordship held as under:-

“ Consumer Protection Act, 1986 Sections 15 & 12, Electricity bill, amount of electricity bill was demanded from 1997 to 1999 on average basis, It is now settled law that maximum period for which bill can be raised in respect of a defective meter under Electricity Act is 6 months and no more, Order of District Forum quashed, Case remanded for fresh decision keeping into view above mentioned observations.”

7        From the above detailed discussion, it has emerged that there is a deficiency in service on the part of the OP and as such, we find that the complainant is entitled for the relief and accordingly, the complaint of the complainant is partly accepted and bill issued by the OP dated 21.9.2018 amounting to Rs. 34,620/- is hereby set-aside and OP is directed to install the meter of the complainant immediately and recorded the reading of the meter of the complainant for further six months and issue the fresh bill of the disputed period on the basis of average of said reading. The amount if received in excess during this period either to adjust in the further bills or the complainant or to refund to him. The complainant has been harassed by the opposite party unnecessarily. The complainant is also entitled to Rs4,000/- (Rs. Four Thousand only) as compensation on account of harassment and mental agony and Rs3,000/- (Rs. Three Thousand only) as litigation expenses. Opposite Party is directed to comply with the order immediately from the date of receipt of copy of the order, failing which the complainant is entitled to interest @ 9% per annum, on the awarded amount, from the date of complaint till its realisation.  Copy of order be supplied to the parties free of costs as per rules. File be consigned to record room.