If a consumer has constructed a new house and wants power supply from the Electricity Department, the licensee, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco), will have to install the distribution transformer with associated equipment at the licensee's cost.
This amendment by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission to the Distribution code in December last year is yet to be implemented. Hence, the Commission should take suo-motu penal action against the licensee under Section 142 of the Indian Electricity Act, according to Coimbatore Consumer Cause.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of the consumer organisation, said the amendment was notified in the gazette on January 27 this year. However, the licensee has not communicated the amendment to the field staff and hence officials continue to take payment from the consumers to provide the infrastructure. "Any Gazette notification is binding to all the concerned. The licensee is not communicating to the officials concerned and the consumers are affected," he said.
Hence, the Coimbatore Consumer Cause, appealed to the Commission to take suo-motu action, impose penalty on the licensee, direct it to implement the amendment immediately, and refund the charges collected from consumers concerned to install transformers with associated equipment.
