News: Forced to cough up double for power: ATS Kocoon residents-17-06-2022
Gurgaon: The residents of ATS Kocoon in Sector 109 are paying over double the normal amount for electricity because the power connection to their society, which was granted an occupation certificate five years ago, is still not permanent.
They alleged on Thursday that the developer has failed to complete the required process to ensure a permanent connection. Normally, residents of similar societies pay around Rs 6 per unit for DHBVN’s grid supply. ATS Kocoon residents are currently playing around Rs 14 per unit.
According to DHBVN, the charges are Rs 5.25 per unit up for consumption of up to 800 units and Rs 6.20 per unit for consumption over 800 units. The power discom charges double the tariff if a temporary connection is used beyond stipulated time.
The residents said the builder failed to secure a permanent connection with the appropriate load and that’s why they are being penalised.
In such cases, the rules say that the builders should cover the penalty, but ATS Kocoon residents are being billed the whole amount, they said.
“The flats in society are installed with prepaid meters, which are controlled by the builder, leaving us at the company’s mercy. The developer has threatened to disconnect our electricity connections if we fail to maintain sufficient balance in accordance with Rs 14 per unit charges,” a resident of the society told TOI on the condition of anonymity.
The society has single point connection. It means DHBVN supplies power to one point, from where the developer branches out individual connections to each flat. The total bill amount is collected by the developer, who pays it directly to the discom.
Norms by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) state that the developer cannot charge more than the discom tariff from single point connection users.
Data by the discom also shows that the temporary power supply to the society -- where 350 of 444 flats are occupied -- is far beyond the demand, making it prone to constant electricity outages. The temporary connection is just 250KW against the projected load of 5,162KW.
The DHBVN has offered to supply a load of 1,000KW on the condition of a bank guarantee of Rs 4.85 crore. “Till date we have not received the bank guarantee from the developer,” a senior DHBVN official said on Thursday.
When asked, a spokesperson of ATS Infrastructure Ltd said the delay in getting a permanent connection is because of the authority. “We have received the demand for a bank guarantee from DHBVN in May 2022. We will submit the bank guarantee by June end even though we have 90 days to do so,” he said.
The spokesperson added that DHBVN had doubled the electricity charges in September 2021. “We have absorbed the increased cost to date. The proposed increase in the electric demand for Kocoon's residents also incorporates the substantial increase in the cost of backup electricity supply through the diesel generator (DG) set,” he said, adding that it was Rs 27 per unit and that the developer was not charging the residents this amount.
