ORDERS:

Charanjit Singh, President

1        The complainant has filed the present complaint by invoking the provisions of Consumer Protection Act under Section 12  and 13 against the opposite parties on the allegations that the complainant is running a small dairy shop at village Kairon, Tehsil Patti, which is sole source of livelihood of the complainant as well as his family, he is using electricity of the opposite party having account No. T41LH151643W, Meter No. 1622834 and sanctioned load of the NRS connection of the complainant is 0.07 K.W. and the complainant is using electricity in his shop only for the purpose of fan and light. The complainant did not receive any earlier bill except one bill dated 22.9.2019 for the consumption of the electricity from the opposite party and was astonished to see that though the meter status in the bill was given Code ‘O’ i.e. meter is legal and correct even then the complainant received an electricity bill for an amount of Rs. 42,730/- out of which a sum of Rs. 36,156/- has been mentioned as Energy charges being arrears which is not possible for such a small shop having load only 0.07 KW and the complainant has not used the number of units. Thereafter, the complainant approached the opposite party with a request that he has received incorrect bill and he is ready to pay the charges for the units that has been rightly consumed by him in actual and the meter of the complainant be checked and the bill of the complainant might have come due to the reason that the meter might have jumped or it may be faulty. The complainant also moved an application dated 24.9.2019 before the opposite party No. 2 SDO PSPCL Kairon but the SDO marked the said application to R.A and thereafter the RA gave its report without checking the meter of the complainant that ‘after checking the record of the complainant, it has found that the bill is correctly generated’ which fact is wrong and incorrect, the RA has not verified the meter of the complainant at the spot neither he calculated any units and he just gave a false report. The premises of the complainant has never been inspected and neither the alleged charges levied by the opposite parties in the disputed bill are regarding the theft of electricity. The complainant is ready to pay the actual consumption of electricity charges qua the units he has consumed but he is not ready to pay excess charges which have been levied to the complainant due to the faulty meter or due to the wrong reading shown by the meter as a result of meter jump. The complainant had been paying his bills earlier but he is not willing to pay any excessive amount in the disputed bill issued by the opposite parties to the complainant. The complainant has approached the opposite party many a times since he has received the bill in dispute requesting him not to demand any illegal and arbitral amount from the complainant as already discussed above but inspite of that the opposite party did not give any heed to his requests and had been demanding the same from the complainant again and again. The complainant has prayed that the opposite party may be directed not to demand illegal amount of Rs. 42,756/- from the complainant and to withdraw the excess amount of the charges which has been levied to the complainant. The opposite parties may kindly be checked the defaulted meter of the complainant . The opposite parties be restrained from recovering any illegal amount from the complainant and also restrained from disconnecting the electricity connection in dispute and also prayed Rs. 5,500/- as litigation expenses and Rs. 25,000/- as compensation. Alongwith the complaint, the complainant has filed his affidavit Ex. C-1, Another affidavit Ex. C-2, Electricity Bill dated 22.9.2019 Ex. C-3, Application dated 24.9.2019 Ex. C-4.

2        Notice of this complaint was sent to the opposite party and opposite party appeared through counsel and filed written version by taking preliminary objections that Punjab State powers Corporation Ltd. through its M.D. has not been arrayed as party in the present case which is very much necessary party for the adjudication of the present complaint and present complaint is not properly filed. The complainant has not approached this Commission with clean hands, as such is not entitled to any discretionary relief. The present complaint is not maintainable and is liable to be dismissed. On merits, it was pleaded that RA. checked the ledger and found the bill of complainant correct and gave his report on the application of complainant. The bill is legal and valid one as per actual consumption. The complainant is liable to pay the bill in question to the opposite parties. The complainant has got no cause of action against the opposite parties. There is no deficiency in services on the part of opposite parties and the complainant is liable to pay the amount of Rs. 42,725/- to the opposite parties and denied the other contents of the complaint and prayed that the present complaint may be dismissed. Alongwith the written version, the opposite parties have placed on record affidavit of SDO PSPCL Kairon Ex. OPs/1.

3        We have heard the Ld. counsel for opposite parties and have also carefully gone through the documents on the file.

4        As per complaint, the complainant is running a small dairy shop at village Kairon, Tehsil Patti, which is sole source of livelihood of the complainant as well as his family, he is using electricity of the opposite party being consumer through electricity connection having account No. T41LH151643W, Meter No. 1622834 and sanctioned load of the NRS connection of the complainant is 0.07 K.W. and the complainant is using electricity in his shop only for the purpose of fan and light. The complainant did not receive any earlier bill except one bill dated 22.9.2019 Ex. C-3 for the consumption of the electricity from the opposite party and was astonished to see that though the meter status in the bill was given Code ‘O’ i.e. meter is legal and correct. The complainant received an electricity bill for an amount of Rs. 42,730/- out of which a sum of Rs. 36,156/- has been mentioned as Energy charges being arrears which is not possible for such a small shop having load only 0.07 KW and the complainant has not used this much number of units. The complainant approached the opposite party with a request that he has received incorrect bill and he is ready to pay the charges for the units which have been actually/ rightly consumed by him. The bill of the complainant might have come in excess due to meter jump or faulty. The complainant also moved an application dated 24.9.2019 Ex. C-4 before the opposite party No. 2 SDO PSPCL Kairon but the SDO marked the said application to R.A and thereafter the RA gave its report without checking the meter of the complainant that ‘after checking the record of the complainant, it has found that the bill is correctly generated’ which fact is wrong and incorrect. The RA has not verified the meter of the complainant at the spot neither he calculated any units and he just gave a false report.  

5        Ld. counsel for the opposite party contended that Punjab State powers Corporation Ltd. through its M.D. has not been arrayed as party in the present case which is very much necessary party for the adjudication of the present complaint and present complaint is not properly filed. The complainant has not approached this Commission with clean hands, as such is not entitled to any discretionary relief. The present complaint is not maintainable and is liable to be dismissed. R.A. checked the ledger and found the bill of complainant correct and gave his report on the application of complainant. The bill is legal and valid one as per actual consumption. The complainant is liable to pay the bill in question to the opposite parties. There is no deficiency in services on the part of opposite parties and the complainant is liable to pay the amount of Rs. 42,725/- to the opposite parties and prayed that the present complaint may be dismissed.

6        Perusal of bill Ex. C-3 shows that the opposite parties are claiming Rs. 34,595/- from the complainant as current year arrears. But the complainant has contended that the he has not used the electricity for such a huge amount. The stand of the opposite party is that the RA checked the ledger/record and as per record the bill of the complainant is correct and there is not any mistake and no any excess amount has been charged from the complainant which is quite clear from the report given by the RA on the application Ex. C-4. But the opposite parties have not given any prior notice to the complainant before adding the amount in the bill and has not given any detail to the complainant regarding the same. The opposite parties have not given any detail, data chart and calculation sheet on the basis of which the amount of Rs. 34,595/- has been added in the bill of the complainant. The RA mere given his report that the record/ledger of the complainant is checked by him and the bill is correct. Mere report given by RA has no value and RA has also not given any detail with his report that how he calculated this amount. As such, it shows that the amount of Rs. 34,595/- has been added by the opposite party without any basis. The opposite party has also not placed on record any document which shows that the complainant has not made the payment of previous bills. The opposite party has failed to established on record from where they took amount of Rs. 34595/-.  The opposite parties have not given any detail of the arrears and that amount which is added in the Bill of the complainant. The opposite parties have failed to produce any evidence or document which proves that they issued any supplementary bill or notice giving complete and full detail of amount added in bill as such, it constitutes deficiency in services and unfair trade practice on the part of the opposite parties.

7        In view of above discussion, there is merit in the present complaint and the same is accepted and the bill Ex. C-3 is hereby set aside. The complainant has been harassed by the opposite parties, the complainant is also entitled to Rs. 5,000/- (Rs. Five Thousand only)  as compensation on account of harassment and Rs. 3,500/-(Rs. Three Thousand Five hundred only) as litigation expenses. Opposite Parties are directed to comply with the order within one month 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.  This complaint could not be decided within prescribed period due to heavy pendency of cases in this commission and COVID-19. Copy of order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Commission.

10.02.2022