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0 CONSUMER GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL FORUM STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD LTD- SOUTHERN REGION VYDYUTHI BHAVANAM, ------Present: 1. Sri. Sudheer.G, Deputy Chief Engineer, Chairperson 2. Sri. Soni.G, Executive Engineer, Member II 3. Sri. M. Sabu, Advocate, Member III

Friday 23rd October 2020

OP No.45/2020

Between

Petitioner: Sri.Thulaseedharan.B Thulasi Vihar Mamom,

And Respondents: (1) The Assistant Executive Engineer, Electrical Sub Division, Attingal

(2) The Assistant Engineer, Electrical Section, Avanavancherry

ORDER

1. Grievance of the petitioner is as follows. The petitioner is a consumer under Electrical Section, Avanavancherry bearing consumer No.8926. His grievance is that to refund of excess amount remitted as Electricity Charge during the meter faulty period. The petitioner stated that, he had given complaint for testing the energy meter several times from 13/06/2016. But the IInd respondent has not taken any action. On that occasion, they refuse the complaint by saying lame excuse. Even though, the premises was closed, he received the bill of amount Rs.6275/- and remitted the same. The meter was tested with parallel meter only after 3 years on 22/08/2019. It was found that the meter was faulty. Also the meter was sent for testing after remitting Rs.369/- and again showed faulty. During the faulty period he remitted the bill based on recorded consumption in the faulty meter. - 2 –

After the replacement of the meter, the reading was 222 units. After that only one previous bill was revised by the respondent. Hence he prays the Forum to refund the excess amount remitted by him from 13/06/2016. 2. The respondent fled a version is as follows. The complainant Sri.Thulaseedharan, Thulasi Vihar, is a three phase LT IA tarif consumer bearing consumer No.8926 with connected load 5000 watts under Electrical Section, Avanavancherry. The complainant had paid an amount of Rs.210/- for testing the energy meter on 13/06/2016. But the meter testing process could not be completed in stipulated time. Thereafter, the meter was tested with a parallel meter from 22/08/2019 to 30/09/2019 (39 days) and it was showed that the meter was faulty. Again, as per the request of the petitioner the meter was sent to TMR unit for testing and showed the same faulty condition. The average bimonthly consumption of the petitioner from 26/11/2015 to 27/09/2019 was 564 units and from 04/10/2019 to 20/06/2020 was 340 units. Hence the bill for the month of September 2019 had been revised based on the reading of after the meter replacement. 3. The hearing was conducted on 09.10.2020 (through video conference). Both the petitioner and the respondent were present. 4. On going through the petition and other documents in the fle, it is seen that the case was with regard to the refund of excess amount remitted as electricity charges remitted by the petitioner during the meter faulty period from 06/2016 to 10/2019. The petitioner contended that even though he had remitted the required fee for meter testing on 13/06/2016, the meter was tested and replaced only after 3 years. Hence the petitioner contended that he had remitted excess electricity charge more than his actual energy consumption during the above period. So he requested to refund the excess amount remitted by him during the faulty period. - 3 –

5. The respondent stated that even though the petitioner had remitted the testing fee, the meter testing process could not be completed in time. Later on 22/08/2019 the meter was tested with a correct meter and then sent to TMR unit for testing. Both testing results showed that the meter was faulty. Hence the meter was replaced on 04/10/2019. Subsequently the respondent had revised the bill for one billing cycle before the meter replacement. 6. On perusal of the documents in the fle, the Forum found that the energy meter in the premises of the petitioner was faulty from 06/2016 to 10/2019. The complaint of the petitioner is that even though he had remitted the required fee for meter testing, the meter was tested and replaced only after 3 years (ie;04/10/2019). Hence the petitioner demanded for the refund of excess electricity charges he had paid during faulty period. 7. The Forum views that even though the petitioner complained several times, the faulty meter was not tested and replaced. It was done only after a long period of 3 years. It is a serious lapse and irresponsibility on the part of the ofcials of the licensee. But as per the Regulation 115 (9) of Kerala Electricity Supply Code “in case the meter is found to be faulty, revision of bill on the basis of the test report shall be done for a maximum period of six months or from the date of last testing which ever is shorter and the excess or defcit charges on account of such revision shall be adjusted in the two subsequent bills. In this case, only one billing cycle was revised by the respondent, it is not proper and illegal. 8. Considering the above facts and evidence of this case, the Forum ordered as follows.

1. The respondent is directed to revise the bill on the basis of the test report for a period of six months and the excess or defcit amount on account of such revision shall be adjusted in the two subsequent bills. 2. No order as to cost. - 4 –

If the petitioner is not satisfed with the above order of this Forum, he is at liberty to prefer appeal before the Electricity Ombudsman within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order. The address of the Electricity Ombudsman is furnished below. State Electricity Ombudsman, Charangattu Bhavan, Building No.34/895, Mamangalam - Anchumana Road, Edappally, Kochi – 682024, Ph: 0484 -2346488.

Sd/- Sd/- Sd/- M. SABU SONI.G SUDHEER.G ADVOCATE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER MEMBER III MEMBER II CHAIRPERSON

Forwarded Sd/-

CHAIRPERSON (DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER)

No: CGRF/KTR/OP No.45/2020/ 162 Dated : 27/10/2020.

Delivered to:

1. Sri.Thulaseedharan.B, Thulasi Vihar, Mamom, Attingal 2. The Assistant Executive Engineer, Electrical Sub Division, K.S.E. Board Ltd , Attingal 3. The Assistant Engineer, Electrical Section, Avanavancherry

Copy to:-

1. The Deputy Chief Engineer, Electrical Circle, (Urban) 2. The Executive Engineer, Electrical Division, Attingal

______Ofce: CGRF(S), Vydyuthi Bhavanam, Kottarakkara, Pin – 6 691 506 Web site: cgrf.kseb.in E- mail: Cgrf.ktra@kseb. in, Phone: 0474 – 6 2451300