Chandigarh admn waives facilitation charges on power bills

Since January 1, the Chandigarh department of information and technology (IT) was charging ₹10 per power bill for online payment through e-Sampark website and ₹20 for offline payment through Sampark centres

Following widespread criticism by residents, the UT administration has withdrawn the facilitation charges on payment of power bills through Sampark centres.

There are nearly 2.47 lakh power consumers in Chandigarh. Of these, 2.14 lakh, or roughly 87%, are domestic consumers. (HT Photo)

Since January 1, the UT department of information and technology (IT) was charging ₹10 per power bill for online payment through e-Sampark website and ₹20 for offline payment through Sampark centres.

UT IT director Rupesh Kumar said the facilitation charges on power bills had been withdrawn following the directions of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC). These will be borne by the UT electricity department.

There are nearly 2.47 lakh power consumers in Chandigarh. Of these, 2.14 lakh, or roughly 87%, are domestic consumers.

During a public hearing by JERC on March 17, the consumers had stated that for the last more than 10 years, they had not paid any transaction charges, but now Sampark centres had started demanding exorbitant charges.

There was no other method to pay the bills as specified in Section-7.32 of the Supply Code Regulations. They submitted that several other electricity boards demanded no extra charges for online bill payments. The action of the UT electricity department to force consumers to pay high fees without approval/public hearing was illegal and against the Electricity Act, the consumers had pleaded.

Meanwhile, facilitation charges on other services, including Scheduled Caste, Backward Class, birth and death certificates; payment of electricity ( now waived off), water and sewerage bills; tenant verification; booking of tubewells; VAT/CST returns; UDID applications; and sale and receipt of Chandigarh Housing Board forms, will continue to be levied.

Since January 1, the IT department is charging facilitation charges ranging from ₹20 to ₹25 on various services at all 45 Sampark centres.

Earlier, the administration was only levying the application fee, but decided to also impose facilitation charges, which were waived earlier with the help of a grant-in aid from the IT department.