BSES asked to refund bill

Pulling up BSES Yamuna for sending an unaccounted bill of Rs 1.5 lakh to a consumer, the state consumer commission has slapped a fine
of Rs 50,000 on the discom and also directed it to refund the bill amount to the complainant.

Sardarni Harbans Kaur, a resident of village Kishan Garh in Vasant Kunj, complained that her meter was burnt and rendered dysfunctional in a fire caused by a high tension wire that passed over her house on July 9, 1999. A non-defaulting customer since 1985, she lodged a report with the junior engineer of the department but nobody turned up to rectify the damage or restore electric load for two years.

Then she requested BSES to replace the meter but the discom slapped a bill of Rs 1,52,927 alleging power theft by the consumer for 2 years. On BSES' threat that an FIR will be lodged in case the bill was not paid, she paid 50% of the amount on the very day and the balance was deposited in two instalments.

However, BSES said that on receiving the complaint, the premises of the consumer was inspected on September 1, 1999 and it was found that the seal of the meter was tampered with. Therefore, a case of Fraudulent Abstraction of Energy was registered.

Rejecting the discom's plea, Justice Kapoor said: "On receiving the complaint, the discom should restore electricity immediately and ensure that necessary action is taken at the site. The burnt meter should be removed and tested to see the cause of the fire. A new meter should be provided within three days. Thereafter, a bill based on the estimated energy consumption pattern of 6 months prior to and 6 months after the period during which meter remained defective has to be raised."
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2929868.cms

BMC panel demands BEST electricity services in suburban Mumbai

Cutting across party lines Standing Committee
members of the civic body today demanded to replace Reliance Energy
with the BEST Undertaking to supply power in suburban Mumbai.
BEST Undertaking is a part of BMC and has been supplying electricity
in the city limits and has all the expertise, know-how and manpower
to supply power at affordable rates and also to provide efficient
services, Congress corporator Vinod Shelar said.
"There are also a lot of complaints against Reliance sending `exorbitant'
electricity bills to households and commercial setups," Shelar said
at the Standing Committee meeting.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani owned Reliance Energy, which had taken
over the state-controlled Bombay Suburban Electric Supply Ltd (BSES),
has been supplying power in the suburban Mumbai for the past couple of years.
"It is a welcome decision that people are demanding for a
change as they are fed up with them (Reliance Energy). It is good
that the corporation is doing something," said Congress corporator
Sameer Desai.
Supporting opposition members, Standing Committee Chairman
and Sena leader Ravindra Waikar, said, "We would provide what ever
help we can in getting the BEST services".
"If any problem arises with BEST services, we can always go and
discuss with the officials. With Reliance it is difficult as they
do not pay heed to the problems," Desai said.

source:www.ptinews.com

BSES twisted facts to make case for tariff hike:DERC

In an affidavit submitted before the appellate tri-bunal for electricity. Delhi's power regulator has accused Reliance-backed discoms, BSES Yamunaand Rajdhani, of "misrepresentating facts" for making a case to raise tariff.

The affidavit was filed on tuesday by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission after its tariff order had been challenged by BSES in the appel-late tribunal . The hearing is close in a day.

DERC's affidavit said the discoms' pettition should be rejected as documents submitted by them to legitimize a deal with sister firm Reliance Energy Ltd were "not genuine".

The tribunal's judgement on the affidavit is crucial for consumers. If the affidavit is accepted in the hearing, the tribunal would have also accepted DERC's decision to disallow a Rs. 950 Crore transaction by BSES to purchase capital goods for REL, effectively squashing the discom's a major point of contention against the DERC tariff order. If that happens, officials said, the tribunal will not allow a major tariff hike even if BSES's other points of contentions are accepted.

BSES said the matter would be decided in court, a BSES official said, " We have right fully asked to be compensated for some genuine expenses and we will fight it out in court. The matter is up for hearing."

A source said DERC had disallowed the capital expenditure as it felt the transaction amounted to ripping off Delhi consumers. "BSES's petiotion against DERC's disallowance of this expenditure is the biggest point in their anti-DERC pettion which could have led to a tariff hike amounting to
Rs 2 / Unit,"
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com

BSES filed fake papers in court, says regulator

The capital’s biggest power distributor, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s BSES, has been accused of submitting fake documents to a court as evidence to bail itself out of an alleged scam involving Rs 950 crore.

In an affidavit submitted to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity on Tuesday, power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) said the fresh documentary evidence submitted by BSES — such as quotations from various companies and proof of the additional work done as part of the deal involving the purchase of transformers — was doctored and fake.

If the charges are established, BSES will face punishment for committing perjury.

BSES said the DERC’s affidavit was “malicious”. “It is absurd,” said a BSES official. “The tribunal will decide on the matter.”

The matter goes back to 2004 when the discom had bought transformers from Reliance Energy Limited (REL) and given a bill of Rs 950 crore to the government under capital expenditure.

When the DERC ran a customary scan through the deal, it found that BSES had inflated the bill by about 68 per cent. Also, BSES had bought the equipment from its sister company, REL, allegedly without any competitive bidding.

The matter reached the appellate tribunal after BSES said it would pass on the burden to the consumer, by increasing the cost of power, if the bill was not settled.

The Hindustan Times broke the story earlier this year.

Among the fresh evidence, which the DERC says is fake, are quotation letters from three companies (including REL) to show that the work was awarded after a fair and competitive bidding. Letters showing that additional work was awarded to REL have also been submitted to justify the increase of 68 per cent over the actual cost of transformers.

The 14-page DERC affidavit, however, goes in detail to explain that the documents are “not genuine” and full of “insertions” which establish that “they are not genuine”.

“There is a mismatch between the original tender papers and the papers submitted now,” said a power department official.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com