High Tension (HT) electricity consumers in the State, who had gone to the Court regarding payment of Maximum Demand (MD) charges during the lockdown period, will wait for the orders to decide on their next course of action.
Industry sources here said three or four industrial associations had gone to the court on this issue. Further, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation has got an interim order from the Appellate Tribunal For Electricity over a suo moto order of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission on the same issue. The next set of hearings are expected next month.
Now, several industries have resumed operations but are able to run only 30 % to 40 % of their capacity. Since most of the industries remained shut from March 25 till recently and used minimum power for essential needs such as lighting, the industries had been asking for collection of MD charges according to actual use. About 20 % of the HT consumers had paid the Maximum Demand charges for the lockdown period.
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“We are not asking for concession or special benefit. We are only saying we will pay according to the rules, which is a right of the consumers,” said a textile mill owner here.
The small and medium-scale HT consumers are the worst hit with the Tangedco asking the industries to pay the full MD charges, he said.