KERALA ELECTRICITY OMBUDSMAN
D.H. Road & Foreshore Road Junction,
Near Gandhi Square,
Ernakulam, Kerala-682 016
Ph: 0484 2346488, Mob: 8714356488
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Category: Orders | ||
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Files: 1265 | |
Orders of Kerala Electricity Ombudsman in pdf format |
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The appellant is having consumer no. 6318 under LT VIIA tariff. A bill for Rs. 18,795/- was issued to the appellant after inspection conducted by the Regional Audit Wing along with the Section officials on 27-02-2017. It is alleged that the appellant had connected unauthorized load of 2237 Watts in the premises. The appellant filed an objection before the Assessing Officer which was rejected. The appellant filed a complaint before the CGRF (South) against the assessment of the Assessing Officer. According to the respondent the matter of the complaint is an assessment under Section 126 of the Act and the CGRF is barred from entertaining such complaints in view of 21 (f) (vii) (I) of the KSERC (CGRF & Electricity Ombudsman) Regulations, 2005 and the Forum dismissed the petition due to lack of jurisdiction, vide order no. 400/2017 dated 27-06-2017. Aggrieved against this order this appeal petition was filed. Hearing of the case was conducted on 20-10-2017 in the Court Hall of CGRF, Kottarakkara. Sri Anil Kumar, the appellant was present. Sri Shibu R, Assistant Executive Engineer, Electrical Sub Division, Kadakkal appeared for the respondent. In view of the arguments made by both parties, it appears that the foremost question to be decided in this matter is whether the appeal is maintainable or not. It is needless to enter into the merits of the case, if this Authority has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter. Anyhow, I would like to reiterate that this Authority does not have any authority to entertain this complaint, since the bill raised under Section 126 based on allegation of unauthorised load of electricity and the assessment was made under Section 126 of Electricity Act, 2003 which falls under the exception clause 2 (f) (vii) (I) of the Regulations, 2005. The appellant’s remedy was only to file an appeal before the Statutory Authority under Section 127 of the Act. Instead of filing before the said Appellate Authority, the present appellant approached first the CGRF and thereafter this Authority. Moreover, CGRF/Electricity Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to entertain such complaints relating to unauthorised use of electricity as provided under Section 126 of the Act. But it is not fair that the CGRF has directed the consumer to approach this Authority with an appeal. It is therefore held that this appeal petition is not maintainable. The order of the CGRF is upheld. The appeal petition is rejected as not maintainable. |
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The appellant is an industrial consumer with consumer No. 4235 under Electrical Section, Edavanna having a connected load of 75 kW. The Audit team of Regional Audit Officer, Manjeri conducted an inspection during the month of November 2015 and found that the consumer was issued with undercharged bills from 10/2013 to 08/2015. Accordingly the appellant was issued with a short assessment bill amounting to Rs. 60,091/- (Rupees sixty thousand and ninety one only). Aggrieved by this, the appellant had approached the Hon’ble CGRF (NR) by filing a petition in OP No. 06/2016-17. The Forum quashed the short assessment bill for Rs. 60,091/- and directed the respondent to issue short assessment bill in compliance with Regulation 134 of KESC 2014 for ToD energy charges, demand charges electricity duty and meter rent as per the readings recorded in the office register. The respondent had filed a review petition before the CGRF requesting to review the order dated 30-06-2016 issued in OP No. 06/2016-17. It is submitted by the respondent that the Forum erred and failed to see the power factor incentive/disincentive has been introduced by the licensee from 01-09-2013 based on the order of the Regulatory Commission published in Kerala Gazette dated 9th September 2013 and it is constructive notice and hence a separate notice is not mandatory. The Forum allowed the review petition vide order dated 31-03-2017 in review petition no. 07/2016-17. Aggrieved against this, the appellant has submitted this appeal petition before this Authority. From the conclusions arrived at as detailed above, I decide to quash the short assessment bill amounting to Rs. 60,091/- issued to the appellant. The respondent is directed to revise the short assessment bill by deducting the incentive/disincentive from the calculation statement and issue the revised bill to the consumer within fifteen days. No interest is payable by the consumer up to the due date of the revised bill as ordered now. Having concluded and decided as above it is ordered accordingly. The appeal petition filed by the consumer is allowed as ordered and stands disposed of as such. The order of CGRF, Kozhikode in OP No. 06/2016-17 dated 30-06-2016 is upheld and the order of CGRF in Review Petition 07/2016-17 in OP No. 06/2016-17 dated 31-03-2017 is set aside. No order on costs. |
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The review petitioner, the Assistant Executive Engineer, KSE Board Ltd, Electrical Sub Division, Ayoor has filed this review petition against the orders issued by this Authority in appeal petition No. P/001/2017 dated 25-05-2017. The brief facts of the appeal petition filed by the appellant/review respondent are as follows. The appellant is running a hotel in the name and style M/s Mangalath Hotels and Resorts, Chadayamangalam having consumer number 5762 under the jurisdiction of Electrical Section, Chadayamangalam with a connected load of 3830 Watts. On 20-12-2011, the appellant had submitted an application for a load of 68 kW, after remitting the required application fee and Rs. 3,64,314/- being the estimate charges for installing one 100 kVA transformer after constructing 100 meters of 11 kV line and after complying with all necessary formalities. On completion of the work on 06-11-2012, the respondent conducted a physical verification in the premises which revealed the actual connected load in the premises was 141 kW instead of 74.853 kW as per completion report submitted by the appellant. Hence he was directed to avail HT connection after observing all formalities or to physically dismantle the load beyond LT limit. The appellant was directed to remit Rs. 16,320/- and Rs. 40,800/- being the Unconnected Minimum Charges (UCM) vide letters dated 24-05-2013 and 10-10-2013, as he was not regularized the additional load or not availed HT connection as directed. The appellant filed a writ petition No. 31413/3013 before the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala challenging the demand and recovery and requesting to provide electric connection under LT category. The Hon’ble court issued an interim stay on the UCM demand. Later the appellant had submitted an application dated 20-01-2014 stating the connected load was reduced to below 80 kW and for effecting the supply under LT category. Since the respondent did not effect connection, the appellant again approached the Hon’ble High Court. The Court issued interim orders in the writ petition directing the Board to conduct an inspection in the premises and to apprise the facts regarding air conditioners as well as cable connection stated by the appellant. An inspection report is prepared based on the statement, site mahazar and the observations and an order was issued by the Assistant Executive Engineer, Electrical Sub Division, Ayoor rejecting the request of the consumer. On 30-01-2016, Kottarakkara Electrical Division Squad inspected the premises of the Consumer No. 5762 and an unauthorised additional load of 75378 Watts was detected and a provisional assessment for Rs. 7,72,007/- for the entire period i.e. from 12/2013 to 12/2015 was prepared and issued to the appellant. The appellant had filed an objection dated 10-02-2016 against the provisional assessment before the Assessing Officer. Considering the facts raised by the consumer, the Assessing Officer reassessed the Provisional Bill and reduced to Rs. 2,37,120/- (Rupees Two Lakhs Thirty Seven Thousand one hundred and Twenty) and final bill issued on 29-02-2016. Aggrieved by this the consumer filed another writ petition before the Honourable High Court vide WP(C) No 10261/2016 and the Honourable High Court in its Judgement dated 30-03-2016 ordered that "recovery steps for recovery of amounts confirmed against the petitioner shall be kept in abeyance for a period of two weeks, so as to enable the petitioner to move the Consumer Redressal Forum for appropriate relief." Accordingly the appellant approached the CGRF (South) vide OP No. 124/2016.The CGRF dismissed the petition as it is found no merit in the contentions of the appellant; vide order dated 05-12-2016. Aggrieved by the order passed by the CGRF, the appellant has filed appeal petition before this Authority. The appeal petition was disposed of having allowed the plea of the appellant to the extent as it was ordered. Now the review petitioner has submitted that a factual error occurred in the order No. P/001/2017 dated 25-05-2017 issued by this Authority and therefore requested to review the order and to dismiss the said appeal petition. In page 13, the 1st paragraph under the sub head, ‘Analysis and findings’, of the order No: P/001/2017 Dated 25.05.2017, issued by the undersigned, stands corrected and read as “Hence this Authority is of the view that the fixed charges for 80 kW has to be realized from the appellant only from 30-01-2016 to 05-09-2016, if not collected. The 2nd paragraph under the sub head ‘Decision’, in page 13 of the order, stands corrected and read as “The fixed charges must be realized from the appellant from 30-01-2016 to 05-09-2016 for 80 kW, if not collected earlier”. There is no other change in the said order dated 25-05-2017. Having concluded and decided as above, it is ordered accordingly. The Review Petition filed by the appellant is allowed to the extent ordered. |
KERALA ELECTRICITY OMBUDSMAN
D.H. Road & Foreshore Road Junction,
Near Gandhi Square,
Ernakulam, Kerala-682 016
Ph: 0484 2346488, Mob: 8714356488
Send an email to info@keralaeo.org
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