Provide individual supply for society residents: MPERC directs discom

Bhopal: There is good news for electricity consumers living in residential apartments and colonies. The electricity regulator— Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC)— recently directed the central discom to consider all applications received from residents of group housing societies and to provide connections to them on the terms and conditions specified in the Supply Code, 2021.Instead of submeters, residents of a society can now get individual electricity connections.In a suo motu petition, MPERC directed the central discom that in case of non-availability of appropriate meters, applicants must be provided the option to procure the meters from the market as specified in clause 8.6 of the code.The petition was taken up after residents of a colony in the state capital moved a complaint alleging that a builder had taken a single point high tension connection and thereafter distributed it further to all house owners. They sought direct individual connections from the discom.The commission also directed the central discom to expedite the process of procurement of single/three-phase smart meters in adequate quantities for discharging its universal obligations to supply power on request of consumers.Last year, in December, the commission enabled provisions regarding the service of connections to individuals by the distribution licensee in a colony for which a single point high tension supply connection has been availed, subject to certain terms and conditions specified in the regulations.Sources said that with the regulations passed in December, consumers can now avail individual connections and opt out of the supply provided by the colonizer or residents' society which had taken a single point HT connection.