HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL), which has been in news recently for sending inflated power bill to a consumer, faced the ire of the Hyderabad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-III for another blunder. It was directed to pay `1 lakh in compensation and `3,000 towards costs of complaint about billing inflated amounts to a consumer by September 20.
It may be recalled that an inflated power bill for `1.27 lakh was sent to a consumer in Patancheru, after which it was revised to the actual amount of `572. The case, in which the Forum delivered this judgement on Monday, dates back to September 2015 and was filed by one Md Khaiser. The 40-year-old gas and electric welder had his own business at Attapur where he had taken a shop on five-year lease in 2012. While the shop’s building had a contracted load of 38 Horse Power (HP), Khaiser was using only 8 HP to carry out his welding work.
In January 2014, Khaiser was slapped with a bill of `95,335, of which `3,077 was towards consumption charges and `92,257 towards arbitrary charges for having a contracted load of 38 HP. Khaiser complained about the issue in writing to assistant divisional engineer (operations), Charminar division and also to assistant accounts officer to reduce the load from 38 HP to 8 HP. However, the TSSPDCL officials failed to consider this change and routinely inflated bills were being generated.
In April 2014, as Khaiser could not pay `92,257, power supply to his shop was snapped by TSSPDCL. Khaiser struggled to get the problem fixed and approached the court in September 2015. The consumer forum observed that even after a complaint was lodged, TSSPDCL failed to act and caused mental agony to the complainant and also disrupted his source of living by disconnecting power supply. For this, Khaiser was awarded `1 lakh in compensation and `3,000 towards costs of complaint.