1. The brief facts of the case of the complainant are that she has taken two separate electrical connections to her house under which one meter is fixed at Ground Floor and another meter is fixed for First Floor at Chandanbada Street, Jeypore town. The case of the complainant is that the Meter Reader has failed to take meter reading at intervals of one month but took the meter reading of April, May and June, 2014 at a time and failed to record the slab system by failing to disaggregate to 3 months average monthly readings. It is submitted that in July, 2014 the Ops did not supply the Meter Reader with handheld instrument and allowed him to take reading and the OP.4 recorded 34 units less than the actual reading in one of the two meters by causing loss to the Ops. The complainant submitted that the energy bills are being supplied to her in a faulty manner which action of Ops contravenes different provisions of Supply Code, 2004. The complainant also further submitted that the demands made by the Ops were collected in full but arrears are falsely shown by taking into account a part of the collected amount and also double collections are effected on one and same demand. With these and other contentions, alleging gross deficiency in service on the part of the Ops, she has filed this case praying the Forum to direct the Ops not to commit any error in reading and come to a final settlement and to pay Rs.1.00 lac towards compensation for mental agony and loss to the complainant.
2. The Ops filed counter in joint denying the allegations of the complainant but admitted that the complainant is their consumer. It is contended that before this present case in the Forum, the complainant had made complaint before the Company Secretary of Southco. and after receipt of complaint, the Ops’ Vigilance and Enforcement Cell inspected the Meter No.711102590537 and found 75.99% slow and before taking any action by the Ops, the complainant filed a case before GRF, Jeypore. While carrying out the order of GRF, the Ops proceeded to install a new meter in the premises of the complainant but she did not allow. Thereafter the complainant filed an application before Ombudsman and after receipt of conciliation proceeding as directed by the G.M. (Elect.), Jeypore, the Ops have taken steps to install a new meter in the premises of the complainant with a view to revise the bills but the complainant did not allow to install the meter. As per present allegations of the complainant, the Ops contended that due to house lock of the complainant the bill for the month of March & April, 2014 has been made a provisional assessment putting 63 units but in the month of May & June, 2014 the actual consumption bill has been served. It is submitted that the complainant has never approached the Ops for such discrepancies. It is also further contended that the Head Office of the Ops has franchised the billing task to a private agency directly who sends the billing data each month to the Corporate Office of the Ops. If any mistake committed by the billing agency, the same fact should have been intimated to the Ops in writing but the complainant did not do so. With these and other contentions, denying any fault on their part, the Ops prayed to dismiss the case of the complainant.
3. Both the parties have filed certain documents along with affidavits in support of their cases. Heard from the parties through their respective A/Rs and perused the materials available on record.
4. In this case it is an admitted fact that the complainant is the consumer of the Ops having been taken electric connections for her house. Her allegation is that the Meter Reader failed to take reading in the month of April & May, 2014 and he took reading in June for 3 months at a time and charged by step system for the consolidated reading for said 3 months but failed to record the slab system. It is further stated that the Ops did not supply hand held machine to OP.4 in July, 2014 and the OP.4 recorded 34 units less than the actual reading.
5. The Ops stated that in the month of April & May, the house of the complainant was locked for which the meter reader could not take the reading. The Ops have furnished the billing statement from which it was ascertained that in April & May, 2014 the meter reading vide Consumer No.D3-C-35/3B was shown as Zero and they have charged 63 units each averagely. In the month of May, the actual reading was recorded 196 units. July month reading was 69 units. While summing up of the reading of above months, we do not find any excess units charged by the Ops.
6. The Ops stated that the complainant has filed complaint before GRF and as per order of that Forum they tried to install a new meter in the premises of the complainant but she did not allow them. They have also made second attempt to install a new meter but the complainant also did not allow them. If the complainant did not cooperate the Ops to install a new meter in order to count the reading for correction of bills if any, what else can be done by the Ops?
7. The complainant is grumbling about procedural mistake done by the Ops in taking meter reading as per their guidelines framed by OERC and other statutory bodies. On this issue it can be said that the Ops have tried their best to adopt their procedures if any and to comply with the orders of the GRF but it was seen that the complainant did not cooperate the Ops. Further it is seen that the complainant has not made any specific allegations against the Ops. In absence of clear and specific allegations, the Forum cannot find it easy to decide the case. It is also seen that the prayers of the complainant do not concentrate to any specific point(s). Without indicating any gross deficiency in service on the part of the Ops and such loss sustained by her, the complainant has prayed for compensation of Rs.1.00 lac which in our opinion is excessive.
8. From the above discussions, we do not find any merit in the case of the complainant which needs to be dismissed. In the result, we dismiss the case of the complainant but without costs in the peculiar circumstances of the case.
(to dict.)
