Vadodara: Vadodara District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (MGVCL) to refund excess electricity charges collected from a city resident after finding that he was wrongly billed for a three-phase power connection that was never provided.The complainant, Bimal Amin, a resident of Bhayli, approached the consumer forum in 2024, alleging that MGVCL had been charging him fixed charges based on a 6.5 kilowatt load despite his electricity connection remaining single-phase.According to the complaint, Amin had applied for a three-phase power connection in 2012-13 and paid the required security deposit. However, after officials conducted a site survey, he informed them that he no longer required the additional load. Acting on their advice, he submitted a written application to withdraw the request and subsequently received a refund of the deposit.Despite cancelling the request, MGVCL continued billing him fixed charges applicable to a three-phase connection with a 6.5 kilowatt load. Amin said he raised the issue through a written application in November 2013 and was verbally assured that corrective action would be taken, but the billing pattern remained unchanged.After hearing both sides, the consumer forum rejected MGVCL’s contention that the matter fell outside its jurisdiction because Amin had not approached the appellate authority.The commission observed that the power utility failed to produce any technical evidence, such as meter replacement records, installation reports or commissioning documents, to prove that a three-phase connection had been installed and was being used by the complainant.The commission also noted that while MGVCL had refunded the security deposit for the proposed three-phase connection, it failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for continuing to levy fixed charges based on the higher sanctioned load.Holding that the collection of charges for a non-existent three-phase connection was unjustified, the forum directed MGVCL to calculate and refund the excess fixed charges collected from Amin within 60 days. It also awarded him Rs 5,000 as interest, Rs 5,000 as compensation for mental agony and Rs 3,000 towards litigation costs.