Lucknow: Chief engineer of Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar zone, Sushil Garg, has written to authorities of Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (MVVNL) flagging the complaints of consumers and urging senior officials to review legal aspects.In a formal letter addressed to MVVNL (copy with TOI), Garg flagged grievances of consumers who claimed that their electricity connections were switched to prepaid smart meters without their consent.At the centre of the controversy is the claim that prepaid billing was imposed “unilaterally”.Citing a complaint lodged by Ashok Chandra, a resident of Vishwas Khand in Gomti Nagar, Garg wrote to MVVNL, “The consumer presented news reports of the statement of Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar given in Parliament that imposing prepaid billing violates Section 47(5) of the Electricity Act, 2003, which allows prepaid metering only with consumer’s approval, and that prepaid smart meters are not mandatory and should remain a matter of choice.”Officials across all four zones of the state capital – Amausi, Gomti Nagar, Jankipuram, and Central – said that the consumers were reporting frequent recharge requirements and sudden power cuts.Garg urged the MVVNL authorities to “review legal aspects and take appropriate action after examining the legal provisions and reports”.Responding to a TOI query, Garg said that the headquarters would decide the future course of action.There are over 3.8 crore power consumers in the state. UPPCL has installed over 84.5 lakh smart meters of which 75.5 lakh are smart prepaid meters.President of the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad and CERC advisory committee member, Avadhesh Kumar Verma demanded that consumers whose meters were changed without consent should be automatically restored to postpaid billing.
