2 days ago
Power bill shocker: Pkl locals ready to knock at HERC doors
Panchkula: Concerned residents of Panchkula have come together to draft and circulate a petition in response to a recent steep increase in power bills.
The petition, drafted by the Federation of Residents Associations (FORA), an umbrella body of residents welfare associations, will be formally submitted to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday in a bid to challenge and reduce the hike.
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Residents have shown solidarity and pushed for fair and affordable utility pricing.
"We studied different bills and found that the cumulative effect of this revision, as notified by the respondent, is not only excessive and disproportionate but also amounts to an unjust enrichment by way of inflated charges imposed on consumers without adequate justification or supporting cost analysis. These arbitrary escalations, especially in the domestic and industrial sectors, violate the principle of reasonableness in tariff setting, fail to protect the consumer interest envisaged under the Electricity Act, 2003, and merit urgent judicial scrutiny," said RP Malhotra, president, FORA.
"Thus, we are moving the petition Thursday. During elections, we were told that no power rates would be hiked, but the opposite happened, that too unannounced. Fixed charges are adding to a huge increase," he added.
Solution Box's founder Mohit Gupta said, "At this stage, very few people understand the implications. It is around Rs 10,000 per year for 10 kW+ connections and Rs 4,000 per year for 5 kW connections. Add to this the enhanced slab rates.
It will make a huge impact on small and medium domestic consumers."
B R Mehta, a Sector 25 resident, said, "How will HERC justify before the court of law when challenged legally that consumers with much higher consumption are getting much lower bills than consumers with much lower consumption being asked to pay much higher amounts of bills?"
Many residents said they have received bills with an increase of almost 100 to 400% compared to last year's bill. They are calling it illogical while the power department has said they have prepared bills as per commission's revised order.
The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission had raised domestic and industrial categories from 20 to 30 paise per kWh (kilowatt hours)/kVAh from last year.
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