CASE NO. 17 of 1997

ORDER No. 002 DATED 23rd JULY, 1997

Shri S.C. Mahalik,Chairman
Shri A.R. Mohanty, Member
Shri D.K.Roy, Member

In the matter of dispute with Gridco in respect of category of consumer in the billing in violation to Power Supply Agreement.

M/s. Hotel Anand - Petitioner

For the Petitioner: Shri P.K. Satpathy, Retd. Chief Engineer (EL)

M/s. Grid Corporation of Orissa Limited - Affected Party

For the affected party : Shri P.C. Mishra, Executive Engineer, BCDD, Bhubaneswar.

1. This proceeding relates to consumer complaint case filed by M/s. Hotel Anand, Mancheswar Industrial Estate, Bhubaneswar seeking (i) stay in operation of any threat of disconnection by the Respondent_ (GRIDCO) ; (ii) direction to the Respondent (GRIDCO) to comply with the provisions of the Power Supply Agreement valid till its expiry on 14-10-2000; (iii) in preparing the bills for the tariff charges for industrial production purpose as mentioned in Clause.7(a) of the agreement; (iv) revision of energy bills already served on them by GRIDCO as per Clause.7(a) of the Power Supply Agreement in force; (v) payment of differential amount in suitable installments by the petitioner after the revision of the bill. The petitioner in his petition made specific reference to Section.(18)(i)(a) of the Orissa Electricity Reform Act, 1995 for relief against wrong bills raised by GRIDCO.

2. The Petitioner, M/s Hotel Anand, is a Unit of M/s NMHL Group of Companies running this hotel establishment at CB-1, Mancheswar Industrial Estate, Bhubaneswar. They had entered into an agreement with Orissa State Electricity Board for supply of electrical energy to their unit for Hotel purpose. This agreement is initially valid for five (5) years from the date of supply and was terminable through six (6) months notice on either side. The agreement is still in force as the supply was effected from 25.10.95. The representative of the Petitioner present during the hearing mentioned that GRIDCO has been charging the Hotel Anand on commercial rate of tariff as against industrial tariff provided in the Power Supply Agreement at Clause 7(a). The representative of the Petitioner was asked by the Commission about the applicability of Section 18(i)(a) of the Orissa Electricity Reform Act, 1995 under which the petitioner had sought relief against wrong billing by the GRIDCO, since Section 18(i)(a) relates to revocation of license, upon receiving a complaint from any consumer. Further, the representative of the Petitioner could not explain on the maintainability of the case before the Commission in the context of Section 33 (2) where the c