Punjab

Faridkot

CC/20/154

Manish Goyal - Complainant(s)

Versus

PSPCL - Opp.Party(s)

Harsimran Singh Sarao

25 Nov 2024

ORDER

DISTRICT  CONSUMER  DISPUTES  REDRESSAL  COMMISSION,  FARIDKOT                                                

C.C. No :                    154 of 2020

Date of Institution :     29.09.2020                                                          

Date of Decision :       25.11.2024

Manish Goyal  aged about 39 years son of Lal Chand Goyal, resident of Gurpreet Avenue, Near RO, New Cantt Road, Faridkot

                                                             ...Complainant

Versus

1. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd., through its Chairman cum Managing Director, The Mall, Patiala.
2. Assistant Executive Engineer, (DS) City Sub Division, Faridkot Tehsil and  District Faridkot.

   .........Ops

Complaint under Section 35 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Quorum: Sh. Rakesh Kumar Singla, President,

                Smt Param Pal Kaur, Member,

Present: Sh Ranjit Singh, Ld Counsel for complainant,

              Sh Raj Kumar Gupta, Ld Counsel for OPs.

 

(Rakesh Kumar Singla, President)

ORDER

                                           Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd etc/Ops seeking directions to Ops to withdraw the excessive bill dated 17.09.2020 for Rs.60,650/- and for further directing them to pay Rs.50,000/- as compensation for

 

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harassment and mental agony suffered by complainant besides litigation expenses of Rs.10,000/-.

2                                           Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that he is having domestic supply electric connection bearing a/c no 3004923493 running in his premises in his name with sanctioned load of 1.753 KW and he has been paying all the bills regularly as and when received and nothing is due towards him on account of consumption charges. It is submitted that he received bill dated 22.05.2020 for the period from 05.03.2020 to 22.05.2020 for Rs.11,830/-on account of consumption of 1265 units. Complainant again received bill dated 13.07.2020 for the period from 05.03.2020 to 13.07.2020 for Rs.31,885/-on account of consumption of 3623 units. This bill also included the bill dated 22.05.2020. As the bill amount was very high, therefore, on receiving the bill, complainant approached OPs and requested them to check the working of meter, but OPs never visited his house for checking the meter. Thereafter, complainant received bill dated 17.09.2020 for the period from 13.07.2020  to 17.09.2020 for Rs.60650/-on account of consumption of 3254 units. Complainant approached OPs several times with request to withdraw the said bill or to correct the same, but they paid no heed to his genuine requests, which amounts to deficiency in service on the part of OPs and this act and conduct of Ops has caused great inconvenience, harassment and mental tension to complainant for which he has prayed for seeking directions to Ops to withdraw the bill dated 17.09.2020  and has also prayed for

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compensation of Rs.50,000/- for harassment and mental agony suffered by him besides litigation expenses of Rs.10,000/-. Hence, this complaint.

3                                                         Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dt 05.10.2020, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite parties.

4                                            On receipt of the notice, the opposite parties appeared in the Commission through their counsel and filed written statement wherein denied all the allegations of the complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that meter of complainant was defective in May, 2019 and on application moved by complainant, it was changed on 06.12.2019. Old burnt meter was sent to ME Lab, Moga where after inspection it was found that bill for old burnt meter was charged upto 3139 units whereas actual consumption was 5449 units and therefore, bill for difference of 2310 units was sent to complainant and complainant was duly informed about it vide memo no.1347 dated 27.08.2020 and complainant was asked to deposit Rs.19,728/-, but complainant did not deposit the same and therefore, this amount was added into bill dt 09.11.2020. As complainant did not pay energy bills upto 09.11.2020 which amounts to Rs.73,977/-as on 24.11.2020, therefore, complainant is not entitled to seek relief and complaint is liable to be dismissed on this score. On merits, ld counsel for OPs have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and

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incorrect and reiterated the same pleadings as taken in preliminary objections. It is further averred that there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs

5                                               Parties were given proper opportunities to produce evidence to prove their respective case. Counsel for complainant tendered in evidence affidavit of complainant Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to 11 and closed the same.

6                                        To controvert the allegations of complainant, ld counsel for OPs tendered in evidence affidavit of Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Assistant Executive Engineer City Sub Division, PSPCL, Faridkot as Ex OP-1, documents Ex OP-2 to OP-6 and thereafter, closed the evidence on behalf of OPs.

7                                      We have heard the ld counsel for complainant as well as OPs and have carefully gone through the evidence and documents placed on record by respective parties.

8                                   From the careful perusal of documents and evidence placed on record and after going through the arguments advanced by complainant counsel, it is observed that case of the complainant is that he received bill dated 22.05.2020  for  Rs.11,830/-; bill dated 13.07.2020 for Rs.31,885/- and bill dated 17.09.2020 for the period from 13.07.2020  to 17.09.2020 for Rs.60,650/-on account of consumption of 3254 units. Bills raised by OPs are highly excessive and

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Grievance of the complainant is that despite repeated requests, OPs have not corrected the aforementioned bills and it has caused huge harassment and mental agony to him. It amounts to deficiency in service on the part of OPs. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint. On the other hand plea taken by OPs is that this amount is charged for difference of consumption units found during inspection of his old burnt meter in ME Lab and complainant is liable to pay the same. As per OPs, actual consumption of his old burnt meter was 5449 units, but he was charged only 3139 units and this impugned amount is raised on account of difference of 2310 units and complainant is liable to pay the same for power consumed by him.

9                                          The grievance of complainant is that amount of Rs.60,650/-raised by Ops is highly excessive and he has prayed for waiving off the same in the light of commercial circular 38/2021.

10                                            The Ld Counsel for complainant produced on record copy of  Commercial Circular No.38 dated 13.10.2021, wherein it is clearly mentioned that  defaulting arrears of electric connections having sanctioned load of less than 2 KW are to be waived off. Complainant has also produced copy of circular dated 03.08.2022 issued by the office of Chief Engineer/Commercial, PSPCL, The Mall, Patiala vide which outstanding dues of all consumers have been waived off till 31.12.2021. This document clearly reveals the fact that all

 

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electricity bills of domestic supply consumers issued uptil 31.12.2021 and which have not been paid till 30.06.2022 stand waived off.

11                           Ld Counsel for complainants has also placed on record copy of memo no. 2034 dated 03.10.2023 issued by OPs to one Gurpreet Kaur wife of Jaspal Singh resident of Village Dago Romana, District Faridkot, vide which they have adjusted the outstanding sundry charges in respect of period that falls prior to 31.12.2021.

12                                After going through the evidence and documents placed on record by respective parties, it is observed that bill challenged by complainant has been issued on 17.09.2020 and falls within the provisions of this circular dated 13.10.2021 and 03.08.2022. As electricity meter connection in question is also domestic supply connection and sanctioned load of complainant is only 1.753 KW i.e less than 2 KW, therefore, keeping in view the guidelines issued under circular dated 13.10.2021 and 03.08.2022, complaint in hand is hereby allowed and OPs are directed to waive off the outstanding charges levelled vide bill  issued by them on 17.09.2020 that contained arrears of Rs.60,650/-.  Compliance of this order be made within 45 days of receipt of the copy of this order.

13                                            Complaint could not be decided within stipulated period due to heavy pendency of work and incomplete quorum.

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14                                      Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of cost as per law. File be consigned to the record room.

Announced in Commission :

Dated: 25.11.2024

 

  (Param Pal Kaur)        (Rakesh Kumar Singla)

                                   Member                  President