Domestic consumers of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) in the city have been facing a series of issues pertaining to the assessment and payment of electricity bills. Hundreds of them, mainly senior citizens, have been complaining that paying electricity bills is a physically taxing job because the counters are situated on the first floor of Tangedco’s offices.
Offices at substations
The problem has arisen because, over the years, a number of Tangedco offices have been moved to substations. Tangedco’s uniform design of the electricity substations in Chennai houses its payment section on the first floor. This is the case with the substation-cum-section offices in Kilpauk, Chintadripet, Tirumangalam, Kodambakkam, Perambur, Palavanthangal, Thiruvanmiyur and Velachery.
Only offices located on the outskirts of the city, where the premises are typically rented in residential premises, have payment counters on the ground floor.
V. Rajagopal, an elderly resident of TVS Colony, Anna Nagar West Extension, complained of difficulties faced by consumers like him in climbing steep stairs to pay electricity bills. He wanted Tangedco to at least open a special counter on the ground floor, exclusively for senior citizens.
A senior official of Tangedco in south Chennai said electricity offices are normally located in substations, where the ground floor is occupied by the operations unit, with the first and second floors used for offices. But there are exceptions, too. The Tangedco office in Tiruvanmiyur has a special counter for senior citizens on the ground floor, which could be taken as a role model for its other offices to follow, point out domestic consumers.
Delay in readings
Delays in taking meter readings by Tangedco’s assessors is another consumer grievance. At times, this leads to readings of higher consumption. As the billing is based on a bi-monthly slab, an assessment of over 500 units of consumption would lead to higher charges.
S. Damodaran, a resident of Choolaimedu, complained about about the time lag in assessing electricity meters. A few years ago, assessors were quite regular in registering consumption from meter readings, and they would visit even on Sundays, he said. But of late, assessors sometimes came after the 60-day cycle, which “artificially” increased power consumption above the 500-unit slab, he added.
A senior official of Tangedco said the Electricity Department was one of the first government departments to promote e-payment in the State.
The official pointed out that the online payment system has become a popular mode as the number of customers paying electricity bills over the Internet has been increasing over the past three years.
Online payment
He said nearly 15 lakh consumers paid their bills online in 2018-19, out of the 47 lakh consumers in the Chennai north and south regions, whereas the figure in 2017-18 was 12.35 lakh consumers, and around 11 lakh consumers in 2016-17. These figures also include payments via the Tangedco mobile app introduced in July 2017.
The official said that, initially, there were network connectivity issues with various customers but now all these complaints had been solved, and the online payment system was functioning smoothly.
The official denied there was any “agenda” in making consumers pay higher electricity charges through delay in assessment, but admitted that, in some divisions, there is a shortage of assessors, which is being filled up. Though there may be a delay in assessing the meters by a day or two from the previous assessment cycle but “they have a cushion period of six days to assess before or after the last meter reading was done ,” he said.
The official said the complaints regarding the delays in meter reading would not arise once the ‘smart meter’ project, being rolled out on a pilot basis in T. Nagar, was fully implemented. He said such meters would automate the billing cycle and completely remove the need for assessors.
‘Smart meters’ will be rolled out across the city based on the success of the pilot project, the official added.
