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PARTHA SARATHI SEN
West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited – Appellant
Versus
Ombudsman – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
PARTHA SARATHI SEN, J.
1. The challenge in this writ petition is the order dated 18.07.2011 as passed by the Ombudsman, West Bengal in GR Case No. W-495K of 2010 at the instance of the writ petitioner/WBSEDCL who is a licensee as per the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as the said ‘Act’ in short). By the said order the Ombudsman quashed a bill dated 20.08.2010 for Rs.27,39,222/- as raised by the said licensee upon the respondent no. 3/firm who is a consumer under Section 2(15) of the said Act.
2. Admittedly pursuant to an agreement dated 29.09.2008 as entered by and between the licensee and the consumer, the licensee had agreed to supply high voltage electricity to the respondent no. 3/consumer which deals with processing and dyeing of hosiery cloths. It is the case of the petitioner that electric connection was given at the premises of the respondent no. 3/consumer on 28.04.2009. Subsequently during inspection the technical representative of the licensee/writ petitioner noticed mismatch in the meter reading system and on 01.06.2009 in course of inspection defect was detected in the potential transformer (‘P.T’ in short).
3. According to the
Electricity distribution companies must follow the procedures prescribed by the WBERC Regulations and the Electricity Act, 2003, when alleging that a consumer's electricity meter is defective and whe....
The court established that the billing for defective meters must comply with the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 and the relevant regulations, and upheld the decisions of the statutory forums....
A mistake or bona fide error can justify a supplementary bill, and the prospective loss to be suffered due to belated billing is not a relevant factor.
Point of law: Electricity - Disputed factual aspects cannot be and should not be gone into in the extraordinary writ jurisdiction under Section 226 of the Constitution of India. We are therefore of t....
The Electricity Board must refer disputes regarding defective meters to the Electrical Inspector before raising supplementary bills, as mandated by S.26(6) of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910.
The Ombudsman erred in failing to recognize the commercial relationship between the parties, which affected the determination of electricity tariff under the Electricity Act.
The main legal point established is the application of the multiplying factor in electricity billing and the interpretation of Section 56(2) of the Electricity Act.
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