Rules say private developers must get their accounts audited every three months, but who’s listening!
Developers of private housing projects have declined to share audited accounts of power tariff collections with Noida discom Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL).
This is a direct violation of regulations laid down by the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission. It says that private developers to whom PVVNL grants deemed franchise licences for supplying electricity to residents in high-rise residential societies — and also authorises them to collect power tariff — must get their accounts audited every three months.
Thus, the audit of accounts should take place four times a year, and developers are liable to submit the reports of audited accounts with the licensee every six months.
But the order seems to be of little importance to many developers, as they quite openly refuse to share audited accounts with their licensee.
Most recently, Supertech Capetown and Sethi Max Royal, residential complexes in sectors 74 and 78 respectively — which fall under Division I of PVVNL — were served notices on receiving complaints of irregularities in billing.
The discom ordered them to come clean with the audit reports, but the developers refused to pay heed and merely said they were charging tariff according to the rates stipulated by the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Jayendra Gupta, executive engineer with PVVNL, said, “We have received replies from them, and they are hardly satisfactory. We have sought the details of power tariffs collected from individuals and payments made to PVVNL in the past few years. Though they claim they are following the regulatory commission's orders, they have not shared the audited accounts.”
He continued, “Without the reports, reaching a fair solution is not possible. We’ve told them they will be served notices again to provide the audit reports.”
