Delink CAM & power backup charges from electricity bill, orders Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission

Time of India

10-07-2025

Gurgaon: Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission has directed decoupling of electricity bills and common area maintenance (CAM) and power backup charges through diesel gensets.
It has also said that residents should receive an itemised bill specifying under different headers all charges recovered through prepaid meters.
For lakhs of people living in condominiums, this will bring transparency to monthly charges that they cough up and help reduce friction between maintenance agencies and residents on arbitrary charges. Societies club CAM, backup and electricity charges through prepaid meters.
Electricity supply is disconnected in case of non-payment or delay in payment of CAM charges.
Commission chairman Nand Lal Sharma and Member Mukesh Garg, in their order dated July 4, instructed that all charges recovered through prepaid meters be itemised clearly, with components such as DG supply charges and CAM charges listed separately. "Such itemisation must strictly conform to the rules, thereby ensuring utmost transparency for consumers," stated the commission.
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The commission stressed that no electricity connection should be disconnected if residents pay their legitimate electricity bills based on consumption. Furthermore, any fixed charges previously imposed on domestic consumers, which are against regulations, should be promptly refunded. These refunds should be made either through transparent adjustments in subsequent electricity bills or direct payments to affected residents.
A detailed statement of such rebilling, adjustments and refunds must be prepared and submitted to the petitioners within three months.
The order was issued following a petition by residents of Pyramid Urban Homes-II in Sector 86 against the developer, Pyramid Infratech, maintenance agency B D Facility Management and the discom's SDO in Manesar. In 2013, HERC made it mandatory for group housing complexes to have a single-point electricity connection.
This means that a housing complex with 20 or more residential units has one primary electricity connection, from which individual flats receive branch connections.
The complex is billed based on the reading from the single-point connection's electricity meter, and the total bill is divided among residents according to their usage.
Developers and RWAs have been providing connections to flats from this single-point connection and charging flat owners, leading to arbitrary charges.
In the city, residents of group housing societies currently pay between Rs 7 and Rs 14 per unit for electricity, whereas direct domestic consumers pay between Rs 2 and Rs 7 per unit. Different rates apply to different consumption slabs, but group housing societies have flat charges, resulting in higher bills compared to direct customers.
Ashwani Singla, the petitioner's counsel, said charges for issues like incorrect parking are also deducted from prepaid meters, and if the meter balance runs out, even at night, the power supply is disconnected.
Aerika Singh, Aerika Singh, counsel for the developer and facility management company, contended that all billed charges, including those for DG backup and CAM, were due and payable by residents, with no allegations of higher tariffs being charged.
Initially, residents approached Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) in the city against arbitrary charges and violations of HERC tariffs. In Oct 2022, the forum ordered that no electricity connection should be snapped except for non-payment of the bill, and the SDO must ensure that disconnections do not occur due to non-payment of charges unrelated to electricity consumption.
After the order was not complied with, residents moved HERC in 2024. The commission, after hearing both sides, noted that the main grievances were incorrect charges, the absence of telescopic tariffs, imposition of fixed electricity charges not applicable to domestic consumers and collection of unrelated charges through power bills.
The commission also said, according to single-point supply regulations, bills for society residents must adhere strictly to the tariff approved by the commission. It directed the proper implementation of HERC tariff, ensuring billing is accurately calculated based on individual consumption to maximize consumer benefits.