Gurgaon: Haryana’s electricity regulator has launched a suo motu inquiry into what it describes as “deliberate, continuous, and systemic” non-compliance with rules governing electricity supply to group housing societies — a development with particular significance for the city, where single-point electricity connections, internal distribution infrastructure, billing and the role of developers and RWAs have long been sources of dispute.Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) inquiry concerns alleged non-compliance with its Single Point Supply Regulations, 2020, and the non-implementation of unified billing software (UBS) mandated through DHBVN sales circular D-23/2022. DHBVN, its superintending engineer (IT) in Gurgaon, and defaulting developers, builders and RWAs operating under the discom’s jurisdiction have been named as respondents.Single-point supply is a system under which a group housing society receives electricity through one bulk connection from the discom, rather than individual connections for each flat. The society then distributes the power through its internal network and bills individual residents, subject to HERC’s rules on tariffs, metering and consumer rights.Some violations include illegal disconnections over maintenance disputes over unpaid non-electricity dues, inflating tariffs, combining bills to hide “operational fees,” withholding utility rebates, and charging full commercial rates for standard domestic add-ons (like common-area corridors or small convenience shops that fall outside standard definitions) instead of mapping them appropriately via the regulation’s sanctioned limits.At the Aug 25 hearing, instead of submitting a compliance picture, DHBVN sought two months’ time. Its counsel told HERC that “the compliance is on the part of developers/RWA” and that data was still being collected from field offices. The commission allowed the request, directing respondents to file their reply by Oct 7, with the matter next listed for hearing on Oct 12.Navdeep Singh, a Sector 104 resident who has been raising the issue of single-point connection, said the regulator’s use of the words “deliberate, continuous, and systemic” makes the proceeding significant. “It indicates that HERC is examining not an isolated billing dispute but whether compliance with its regulatory framework has failed across the system,” said Singh. The commission’s final finding is yet to be made.The 2020 regulations were framed after HERC received petitions from group housing societies and RWAs involving developers and distribution licensees, recording complaints over metering, billing, inadequate supply and inadequate electrical infrastructure installed by developers. The commission subsequently held interactive sessions with RWAs, residents and developers in the city and Faridabad before revising the framework.In 2022, DHBVN introduced a unified billing system for single-point (multiple-user) connections to group housing societies, intended to check excess billing and tariff violations and to provide relief to residents who were being charged above the approved tariff and above actual consumption. Under the new norms, bills for single-point connections were to be generated through discom-created software. This has still not been implemented.The city has 502 single-point connections covering townships, condominiums and colonies. Under this arrangement, DHBVN prepares one consolidated bill for the entire society, while the developer or RWA providing branch-out connections prepares individual bills for each flat.
