GURUGRAM: The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has ordered Unitech and the RWA of Uniworld Gardens 2 to refund excess money collected from around 900 residents of the society as power fee and issue revised electricity bills in keeping with the approved tariff.
The developer had charged higher than the permitted tariff, which included fixed charges and other fees. Unitech argued they had a moratorium ordered by the Supreme Court, but the commission insisted that it could not violate the tariff norms “under any circumstances”.
According to Naresh Jindal, a resident, the society has single point supply connection under bulk supply (domestic) category from DHBVN.
In Dec 2021, Jindal had filed a complaint with DHBVN, alleging that the developer and RWA were not raising electricity bills as per the approved tariff plan.
According to the complaint, the residents were charged Rs 6.1 to Rs 7.28 per unit, against the approved tariff of Rs 5.25 per unit. Additionally, residents were charged Rs 139 a day as ‘standing charges’ and Rs 42 a month as ‘fixed charges’.
Jindal noted that while the bills are issued by DHBVN in the name of the Uniworld Garden Apartment Owners Association, they are raised to apartment owners by Unitech.
Achintaya Soni, the counsel for Unitech, argued that the SC — through its Jan 2020 order — had imposed a moratorium against institution of legal proceedings against the company. The HERC, however, countered that the moratorium does not prevent the company from issuing correct bills as per regulations.
HERC, in its Feb 29 order, imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the RWA for their failure to issuecorrect bills. The commission directed the developer and RWA to ensure compliance of the CGRF order, refund excess amount charged from consumers and issue correct bills as per the format prescribed in single point supply regulation 2020.
