Builders in a new tactic to harass flat owners have been deducting maintenance charges from from prepaid electricity meters. When residents of Skytech Matrott in Sector 76 of Noida lodged a complaint with Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL), it responded to say the builder is only allowed to deduct power charge from the prepaid metre — and not any other bill.
However, PVVNL claimed that it cannot do anything about this unfair deduction unless the state government steps in.
Residents have cried themselves hoarse, but to no avail.
Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Skytech Matrott, complained, “We are paying Rs 2.25 per sq ft as maintenance charges, but the builder provides us the lowest quality of services. We also wrote a mail on the matter to UP minister for renewable energy, Brijesh Pathak, in November 2017. The complaint was referred to the PVVNL.”
When City Spidey contacted Manoj Kumar, superintendent engineer of PVVNL, he said, “We have asked the developer to deduct only electricity charges from the prepaid meter. But we can take action only when a policy is in place.”
He added, “Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commissioner (UPERC) is already working on a policy in this regard, and it will be implemented soon. But till that happens, residents will need to convince the developer to not deduct the other charges from the power meter.”
