Apprehending a possible confusion over power bills of consumers in containment zones and areas where meter reading cannot be taken, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has asked consumers to seek the support of board officials to get an idea of their power bills.
The board and the State government had found itself in a spot during the last lockdown period with hundreds of complaints of excessive power bills coming up.
The field staff will take meter readings wherever its possible. In other places, the consumers can take the readings on their own with the help of the officials and pay the bills, said N.S. Pillai, Chairman, KSEB.
Even if there are COVID-19 patients in a house, the field staff may take the reading as the power metres are installed outside the house. If consumers are apprehensive about letting the staff enter their premises, they can take a photograph of the power meter showing the reading and send it to the meter reader or the KSEB superintendent, who will let the consumer know about the power bill, he said.
Average consumption
If meter readings cannot be taken as scheduled, the average consumption for the previous billing cycle would be considered to generate the bill. The actual bill would be made available once the consumption is ascertained. If the actual consumption is found lower than the average bill, the excess amount paid will be deducted in the next bill. If found higher, the balance amount needs to be paid, he said.
The tariff for every unit of consumed power increases once the customer moves to the higher slabs of consumption, which will leave an impact on the power bill. Higher the slab, higher will be the cost of every unit of power consumed, he said.
In comparison
The power consumption during the present lockdown would be lower than that in the previous one, which happened during peak summer. This time, summer rain in the past few days has reduced temperature, which should reflect in the power consumption pattern, Mr. Pillai said.
The total power consumption has come down due to lockdown as most commercial establishments have downed shutters. The current consumption is to the tune of 75 million units a day against the earlier figure of 83 million units, he said.
