The brief facts of the case is that, the complainant is a consumer under the O.Ps vide consumer no.  914102020469  .He has availed electric connection of 1 K.W load to his residential House .The complainant has received bills from the O.Ps till December 2006 and paid all the bills regularly . In the month of May, 2015 , the O.Pno.2 replaced the old meter with another digital meter .The complainant submitted that, on 27.12.2015, he had gone to Dharamgarh and his house was locked till 05.01.2016.When he returned to Bhawanipatna on 06.12.2015 ,he found that, his electric connection was disconnected from the electric pole .After enquiry he came to know that, O.P no.2 disconnected the connection on 30.12.15 without  sending disconnection notice . when the complainant asked O.Pno.2 about disconnection of electricity, the O.P no.2 replied to pay Rs.10,000/- . But the complainant denied to pay because of his financial crisis .on 31. 12.2015 the O.P no.2 served penal bill  of Rs. 12,255 /-under 126(2) of the Electricity Act 2003 . Being aggrieved the complainant has filed this complaint .

2.        The Ops in its written version submitted that, the complainant has availed electricity for domestic purpose .An amount of Rs. 2,5,478 /- was pending against  the complainant from November 2006 to 31.12.2016 .Due to non -payment of electricity dues the Ops have rightly disconnected the power supply .  The O.Ps submitted that, the penalty has been imposed on the ground of unauthorized use of power supply U/S 126 of electricity Act 2003 ,for which the O.Ps claiming outstanding arrears . Therefore prayed to dismiss the complaint .

3.        After hearing both the parties ,the Learned District Forum has  passed  following order :

“xxx   xxx    xxx

Hence, in view of the above ,this complaint does not come under the scope of unauthorized use of electricity as defined in the Act and this forum is of the considered view that the opposite party has no jurisdiction to invoke section 126 of the Act in passing the provisional assessment order which is not sustainable or tenable in the eye of law and is here by quashed . The complainant is exempted to pay any arrear electricity charges from the complainant since they have not issued any bill to the complainant from December ,2006 to November ,2015 . The Opposite party is directed to issue fresh bill from December ,2015 (i.e the date of his first claim since December ,2006 ) basing on meter reading of the complainant and collected the same . “

4.        The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that, the learned District Forum in  waiving  the assessment and the arrear energy charges is illegal ,arbitrary and not in accordance with the provisions of Electricity Act,2003.The appellant further submitted that, if the consumer has not received any energy bill during any period  for availing the supply ,it is the duty of the consumer as per regulation 93 (11) of the O.E.R.C. Distribution and (conditions of supply ) code ,2004 to approach the Engineer and collect a duplicate bill .

5.        The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that, the complainant has used electricity unauthorizedly ,therefore provisional assessment letter was issued on 31.12.15 followed by inspection report dt. 29.12.15. The appellant submitted that, asper the Hon’ble Supreme court of India in U.P Power Corporation ltd. vrs. Anis Ahamad AIR 2013 Supreme court 2766, the complaint is not Maintainable .The learned counsel for the appellant prayed to set aside of impugned order passed by the learned District Forum.

6.        It is admitted fact that , the complainant is a consumer of O.Ps .The disconnection notice bearing consumer no. 903612060064 dt. 02.04.16 shows that, the O.Ps had issued the notice mentioning that, Rs .85,042 /- is outstanding against the complainant. In the disconnection notice the address of the complainant was written as RAMESH CH. SAHU, AMBAGACHHAPADA,BHAWANIPATNA. The O.Ps have filed series of electricity bills in the name of the complainant showing arrear dues .But O.Ps have filed Provisional Assessment Order dt. 31.12.2015 which shows the address of another person. The assessment letter was issued in the name of RAM CHANDRA SAHU , NAKTIGUDA,BHAWANIPATNA.The inspection report  no.1164692 dt. 29.dt. 29.12.15 also issued in the name of Ram Chandra Sahu. Naktiguda .  From it is clear that, the name of the consumer address is different which does not match with the present complainant which is rightly pointed out by the Learned District Forum. The O.Ps have failed to produce any provisional assessment order and inspection report in the name of the complainant. When the OP failed to prove the inspection report,  against the complainant, it cannot be said that complainant has used energy violating the OERC Code. Therefore,  directions or report  is illegal. Thus, complainant prayed that u/s 126 of Electricity Act is also illegal.  So, decision of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of U.P.Power Corporation and others (Supra) is not applicable to the fact and circumstances of the present case.

7.        From the above discussions, we are of the view that, the impugned order passed by the Learned District Forum is confirmed.  The appeal stands dismissed. No cost.

           Supply free copy of this order to the respective parties or the copy of this order be downloaded from Confonet or Website of this Commission to treat same as copy supplied from this Commission.