In what came as a relief to residents of Supertech Capetown in Noida Sector 74, PVVNL, the electricity distribution authority in Noida, pulled up the builder for overcharging residents on electricity. Residents had long been complaining that they were being overcharged in their electricity bills.
On September 26, Raghavendra Yadav, executive engineer of PVVNL (Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd), met the builder and residents of Supertech Capetown in his Sector 25 office to sort out the issue. It turned out that the builder was charging households on the basis of kVA (kilo volt amperes) of power consumed, and not on kWA (kilo watt amperes). As a result, residents were having to cough up more money.
Yadav warned the builder of strict action if it continued to do this. He also confirmed that a fixed rate of Rs 6.22 per unit and a fixed charge of Rs 96 per kWA would be charged by the builder from November 1.
In addition to the issue of overcharging in electricity bills, it was decided at the meeting that the builder would no longer deduct the common-area maintenance (CAM) charges from the prepaid electricity amount paid by residents. Yadav, however, authorised the builder to take three months of CAM charges from residents in advance.
Residents had another complaint — that the builder charged an exorbitant amount for a new domestic connection. While neighbouring societies charged Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 for a new connection, Supertech charged a whopping Rs 20,000. PVVNL asked the builder to submit a balance sheet so these allegations could be looked into. However, the latter only verbally told the discom that it had spent Rs 46 crore on equipment such as transformers and cables. Not accepting this as a valid submission, Yadav instead set a deadline of October 3 for the submission of the balance sheet.
"Residents can rest assured that PVVNL will take necessary action against the builder if rules are not followed and if it is found overcharging the residents," Yadav said.
Residents were happy with the way the meeting turned out. Shailendra Baranwal, a resident, told City Spidey that all their electricity-related issues had been discussed at the meeting and that they could finally rest easy that their grievances were being addressed.
