Gurugram: Why some residents are paying lakhs for new power connection

GURUGRAM: Residents seeking new electricity connection or load enhancement in 16 private developer colonies of the city are forced to shell out Rs 3-7 lakh for a power connection, with DHBVN deciding to recover from them the ‘development charges’ that the builders owe to the discom. Usually, it costs less than Rs 10,000 for getting a new power connection in Gurgaon.

Of the over Rs 317 crore that the 13 private developers collectively owe to DHBVN for having failed to provide the much-needed power infrastructure in these 16 plotted colonies and 32 housing societies developed by them, the discom has recovered Rs 35.38 crore from new connection charges from the residents in the past three months.

“Some 1,782 residents have applied for new connections in the past three months, of which 1,682 have been released till May 10 and a total amount of Rs 35.38 crore has been collected,” a senior DHBVN official told TOI. “However, we are accepting applications with affidavits, stating that the consumers are paying the charges voluntarily. This amount will be returned to them once it’s recovered from the builders.”

In fact, DHBVN had stopped providing new connections in these 16 colonies since July 2021 as the developers did not build the necessary infrastructure. In February 2022, the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) allowed DHBVN to release new electricity connections on “voluntary payment” of development charges.

In its order, HERC had said, “This is an ad-interim measure aimed at resolving the needs of those distressed persons, who are in urgent need of an electricity connection or additional load and are voluntarily ready to pay the development charges. In case, the petitioner (DHBVN) recovers the cost of the claimed inadequacies, the aforesaid charges paid by the consumers shall be adjusted in their future energy bills.”

Ramesh Yadav, a resident of Malibu Town, said that DHBVN made him pay more than Rs 3 lakh for a new connection. “I had no other option but to pay the amount.”Sunchit Mehra, who recently constructed a house on a 60 square yard plot in Sushant Lok-2, said: “We were made to pay Rs 1 lakh for the plot.”

DHBVN, meanwhile, filed a fresh petition before the HERC for the recovery of the outstanding development charges from these 13 developers. “But HERC directed us to file separate petitions against each developer,” DHBVN’s MD PC Meena said. “Efforts are on to recover the pending amount from the private developers. As and when we recover the money, the amount collected from the consumers will be refunded or adjusted.” Varun Pathak, counsel for the developers, said, “The load norms have been revised by DHBVN due to which there are inadequacies. Each builder’s agreement is to be seen separately.”