CHENNAI: Owning two flats in an apartment building with an interlinking passage will not make one eligible to enjoy two separate electricity service connections even though two separate property taxes and maintenance charges are paid, Tamil Nadu electricity ombudsman has said.
The ombudsman rejected the argument of the petitioner, S Manimekalai of Mylapore, that the internal passage linking two tenements was only a temporary arrangement as they were senior citizens.
It said that the interlinking passage violated TNERC distribution code and would cause a loss to the state govt as the petitioner would enjoy 200 units of free power.
Tangedco‘s assistant engineer for the Luz section in 2023 received a complaint from an anonymous person claiming misuse of electricity by two flats in an apartment in Mylapore by making an internal passage. Tangedco officials inspected premises belonging to Manimekalai and confirmed that the two flats had an internal link by demolishing a portion of a wall separating the houses.
While a notice was issued to Manimekalai to merge both connections, she approached the consumer grievance redress forum (CGRF). Manimekalai’s petition was rejected, after which she appealed before the ombudsman. In the appeal, she emphasised that the temporary opening between the two properties did not make both flats a single unit for legal or electrical purposes.
“Both flats maintain completely separate identities, with individual property documents such as separate house tax bills, separate water tax bills, individual kitchens, and separate maintenance bills,” she said.
However, citing sub-regulation 15 of the distribution code 27, which states that more than one service connection can be provided in the flat system only if there is permanent physical segregation between the tenements, the ombudsman upheld the CGRF order and directed the petitioner to merge the connections.
