Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam to credit security deposit interest to power bills of 41 lakh consumers

Time of India

10-06-2025

Gurgaon: The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) will credit around Rs 150 crore in the electricity bills of nearly 41 lakh consumers as a way of paying interests on advance security deposits (ACD) collected by the discom earlier.
Advance security deposit is an amount (equal to two average billing cycles) that is charged from consumers at the time of establishing a new power connection or increasing load capacity.
DHBVN had collected Rs 2,234 crore from its consumers as advance deposits.
In 2022, Haryana's Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) made it mandatory for discoms to review advance deposits collected by consumers. DHBVN then decided to pay consumers interests on these deposits.
The interest accrued in a year is supposed to be adjusted in the bills for the customer by the next financial year. But, if the discom fails to do this, the discom will have to pay higher interest – at 18% -- for the delayed time period.
"DHBVN has decided to pay interest at the rate of 6.75% per annum on the advance security amount (ACD) deposited by consumers. This Rs 150.8 crore is interest received by all consumers on their security deposits," said A Sreenivas, managing director of DHBVN and secretary of Haryana's energy department.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Зачем на ночь сжигают лавровый лист?
smakspices.shop
Undo
"The consumption security deposit is collected as per the direction of HERC. On the advance collected by discom, consumers will get annual interest, which will be adjusted against their electricity bills," said a senior DHBVN official.
According to the discom, Rs 3,454.7 lakh is to be paid to 6.2 lakh consumers in Faridabad circle, and Rs 5799.5 lakh to 6.3 lakh consumers in the two Gurgaon circles.
Earlier, residents challenged the collection of advance security deposits, alleging that multiple such payments were sought.
"We already deposited the security amount to the discom at the time of taking the electricity connection, they again took advance security deposit. Despite all this, we continue to face poor quality of power supply," said Pradeep Sharma, a resident of Sector 45 in Gurgaon.
Officials had denied this, saying deposits were taken only during a new connection or for increasing load capacity.