The ERC has found that the Board at times has even refused to return to the consumer her legitimate share of the interest on security deposit.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KSEB, though a public utility, has its way of duping the power consumers. Certain omissions in electricity bills and concealment of relevant information are ways in which it manages to hoodwink the consumer and stay above the law. The failure to print the address of the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum on the bill and the refusal to exhibit the addresses and phone numbers of the chairperson of the Forum and the Electricity Ombudsman in front of section offices are some of the manipulations, “subtle obfuscations” as a retired KSEB official put it, engineered by the board to insulate itself from legal action.
These discrepancies and non-compliance of legal regulations were pointed out by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission itself. The ERC, in a recent order, states that as per the KSERC Regulations, 2005, the bills issued by the licensee (KSEB) to the consumers shall contain the address of the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum. The ERC has also ordered that henceforth power bills should have the following statement: “Complainants whose grievance is not redressed by the official of the licensee may approach the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum, and ombudsman thereafter”.
It was an amendment in 2010 that made it mandatory for all KSEB offices to “prominently exhibit” the addresses and phone numbers of the chairperson of the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum and the Electricity ombudsman. Standards of Performance (SoP) Regulations, 2006, mandate that the Board should register every complaint of a consumer at the designated office and intimate the complaint number to the consumer. This, too, has been followed in the breach. The ERC has found that the Board at times has even refused to return to the consumer her legitimate share of the interest on security deposit. The Supply Code, 2005, says that the accrued interest on security deposit for each financial year shall be credited to the consumers account during the first quarter of the subsequent financial year and be adjusted against the electricity bill.
