The Hindu : Paying power bill, an ordeal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Paying power bill, an ordeal

By T. Ramakrishnan and Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI APRIL 22. Electricity consumers, who are faced with periodic hikes in tariff for the power they consume, have got little help from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board when it comes to paying their bills or even getting a new card, when the old one is filled with entries.

The recent billing cycle that ended on April 17 witnessed the much familiar serpentine queues and long hours of wait for the consumers who came to pay their bills at the TNEB offices, particularly because of a string of holidays preceding the date.

Roping in banks and other financial institutions for collection of charges were among the suggestions made for simplification of the process, but little seems to have been done in this regard on the ground.

The computerisation drive by the TNEB to simplify and speed up the bill payments has drawn flak as consumers complained that the current system consumed more time than the manual operations did, though the reverse is the effect of any optimal automated system.

K.Natarajan, a resident of Netaji Nagar in Ashok Nagar, told The Hindu that the counters at the local office in Bharatidasan Colony were closed down following the introduction of computer billing four months ago. They were shifted to the divisional office where the rush of consumers was more. "The divisional office is situated far away from our locality. Now, even if we go at the beginning of the month to pay our bills, we need to stand in the queue for more than 30 minutes," he said. Absence of proper indication boards as to which counter would handle which category of consumers made things even more difficult.

Billing details of at least 30 per cent of the consumers had not been fed into the computers during the early payment dates. These consumers had to come back more than once to pay their bills and collect receipts, he said.

The TNEB was also bogged down with its own internal problems. When the counter staff went on leave, the Board could not provide alternate staff to man the counters and hence, they would be closed, said Sankaranarayanan, a resident of Velachery. The counters at the Neelamangai Nagar office, which catered for AG's Staff Colony in Velachery, Adambakkam and Vanuvampet areas, had not been computerised.

Residents of these areas complained that many of them have to walk nearly four kilometres to reach the counter.

The system of collection of additional deposits after every hike in power tariff had also not been streamlined, he charged. "We suggested that the TNEB issue passbooks for keeping records of deposits, but there has been no response. Though they issue receipts against payments, there has been no account of how much a consumer has paid as deposit over the past 10 years."

S. Padmanabhan of Kodambakkam said the availability of bill payment cards was always another problem that needs to be addressed. The bill receipt counters did not issue them and the officials concerned said that most of the time, they did not have stock of cards. "Every vacant portion of the old card is used for making entries of payments till the new card is available." Ironically, in many places, the local offices have collected funds from "sponsors" to get new cards printed.

A TNEB spokesperson said that last week witnessed an unusual rush at the offices due to successive holidays. Circulars on extension of the last date for payment were put up on notice boards, he said, but it failed to reach the public.

At present, the Board has computerised about 50 of its 215 section offices in the city. It plans to cover the remaining ones in a year.

A master database on the 14-lakh low-tension consumers in the city, of which domestic category accounted for 80 per cent, and the 1,000-odd high-tension subscribers, has been compiled.

"Unless the computerisation is completed, we are in no position to tap the services of commercial banks in revenue collection. We are contemplating using credit cards and Net banking for the collection. All this would be possible only after the computerisation of all the section offices" the official says. Whether the deadlines spoken about for such developments will be adhered to, remains a moot question, though.

TNERC recommendations

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission, in its power tariff revision order issued last month, directed the TNEB to submit an action plan for computerisation of LT billing in all municipal corporations within one year.

Other directions included adoption of "innovative methods" such as spot billing, opening of more collection centres, authorising banks and post offices to collect payments to reduce the billing and collection cycle, to improve the cash flows. The Commission pointed out that such measures had already been implemented in several other States.

As regards the demand for the establishment of "holiday collection centres" in urban areas, the panel asked the EB to examine it and, if feasible, implement it in six months. Another recommendation was the introduction of "voluntary deposit scheme", as done by the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam in Mumbai, wherein the consumers had the option to pay a specified amount in advance against their future bills as a deposit. The EB could deduct the bill amount from the deposit, while paying interest on the balance.

Asked what follow-up steps had been taken, the official said that two meetings with senior officials had been conducted. "We are working on the lines recommended by the TNERC and will implement all of them". However, the official added that the EB management had to talk to unions and get their support.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Ban on demolition of public use buildings

Paying power bill, an ordeal

Pamphlet campaign to fight `corrupt woman councillor'

Marine biotech park near Mamallapuram: Jayalalithaa

`Expose' on encroachments triggers fiery spat

Probe into `forcible removal' of pregnant woman from hospital

Fish-cart driver arrested

CMWSSB alteration of superannuation benefits stayed