The Kerala High Tension and Extra High Tension Industrial Electricity Consumers' Association has reiterated its plea before the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission that the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) should be ordered to pay back the money (with interest) it had collected from them as service connection charge even after the Kerala Electricity Supply Code 2005 came into effect on March 2, 2005.
The plea was made at a public hearing held in the State capital on Thursday, to hear the two parties before the commission proceeded with possible penal action against the KSEB under relevant sections of the Electricity Act, 2003.
The regulatory commission had ruled in September last year that the collection of service connection charge was not in order after the Kerala Electricity Supply Code 2005 came into force.
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The KSEB, besides paying back the money with interest to HT and EHT consumers, may have to pay a fine if the commission initiates penal action.
The commission ruled in September 2010 that the KSEB repay the money with bank interest. The ruling came on a petition filed by the HT and EHT consumers in December 2009. The KSEB filed its counter to the consumers' plea in March 2010 and a public hearing was held by the commission the same month.
The HT and EHT consumers claimed that the KSEB had been collecting Rs.450 per kVA from them. The KSEB had first questioned the jurisdiction of the regulatory commission in the matter and once its jurisdiction was established, the commission ruled against the collection of service connection charge and took a serious view of the violation of the Electricity Act.
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The KSEB had introduced the charge in 1988 with a view to enabling it to recover a portion of the cost of service connection. Other categories of consumers such as domestic consumers under slabs 1, 2, and 3 and agricultural consumers were exempted from paying the charge.