Residents in housing complexes in Noida are in a fix when they try to seek individual electricity connections. They are being told that they will need written consent of at least 50 per cent of the residents within the housing society before the power distribution company could even consider the request.

“The UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) had issued guidelines last year to allow residents in housing societies to opt for individual connections. The process of getting consent of residents has been started, but there are finer provisions that need to be worked out. It is to be decided who will bear the cost of additional infrastructure in the event that there has been incomplete work done by a builder or inadequate transformer capacity installed,” an official of the discom, Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (PVVNL) told BusinessLine .

The discom is responsible for power supply in Western Uttar Pradesh. Residents are also confused because of the responses being given by PVVNL. According to customercare representatives from the PVVNL, there are no such regulations in place. Senior officials in neighbouring Noida’s adjacent Greater Noida too say that there are no such norms.

Residents of housing societies are hoping for relief because their monthly electricity bills are inflated because it is clubbed with miscellaneous expenses.

According to a resident, “The housing societies offer power back up for consumers through private diesel generators. This electricity is charged at around ₹16 a unit, much higher than the price charged by the discom. The builders of housing societies have installed pre-paid meters and seldom provide a break up of the monthly costs to consumers. It is difficult to keep track of the power supplied by the discom and that by the power back up throughout the month. The other charges such as maintenance are also collected through this route,” a resident said.

The centre for its part has been assuring that residential connections are to be disbursed free of cost but the ground reality is not so when individuals try to opt for electricity connections.

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