District Consumer Court Slapps MSEDCL for Unfair Trade Practice

[Ravi Karandeekar]

Last week, a district consumer grievance redressal forum slapped MSEDCL for unfair trade practice and asked a residential housing society at Nigdi Pradhikaran to pay bills for only two years, instead of the 10-year bill imposed by MSEDCL which itself failed to send the bills. Residents will now have to pay around Rs 20,000 instead of the original Rs 2.50 lakh.

Forum president S P Madke and member N S Prasad in their judgement ordered MSEDCL to execute Section 56 of the Electricity Act, 2003 which states that the authority cannot charge bills of more then two years, if there is no recovery for years exceeding this period.

In this case, Ravindra Hinge, chairperson of Swapanpurti Housing Society Phase-I at Nigdi Pradhikaran had approached the consumer forum after MSEDCL refused to entertain their complaints.

As per the petition, the society’s electric connection was taken in 2004. There are a number of electric pumps installed to release water into the tank. However, the society never received bills for one of the pump, despite residents writing several applications to MSEDCL. Finally, in September 2013, much to residents’ shock, a bill of Rs 2.50 lakh arrived.

Despite their pleas, MSEDCL refused to reduce the bill.

Society members finally approached the consumer forum, mentioning the provisions in the Electricity Act -2013.

In its judgement, the forum stated that the society need only pay bills for the last two years and not the for the entire decade. The forum also considered the lacuna in MSEDCL's service by not sending bills on time.

“The MSEDCL violated Section 56 (2) of the Electricity Act, 2003, which confines MSEDCL to collect dues or arrears only up to two years,“ says the order. Read More - http://goo.gl/Z7sF1r