COIMBATORE: Tangedco has upgraded its Hand-Held Devices (HHDs) used by assessors to assess and bill consumers for the electricity consumed and eliminated the practice of rounding off the units on the lower side. Some consumers say their tariff slab changes because of this and appealed to Tangedco to revert to the old method.
According to official sources, assessors in Tangedco updated the software version of the HDD from 0.43 to 0.44 two weeks ago. “The major change is that the rounding-off method has been cancelled in the software. For instance, if a consumer used 101-105 units, the device would round it off to 100 units. Similarly, if the consumer used 106 -110 units, it would rounded off to 110 units,” sources added.
However, assessors allege that officials did not inform consumers about the cancellation of the round-off method because of which they are facing consumers’ wrath. K Muthusamy, assessor in the Metro Electricity Distribution Circle in Coimbatore, told TNIE, “Cancellation of rounding-off method would affect people who consume less than 100 units, for which they are not billed.
Consumers who used 101 -105 units need not pay the bill as the HHD used to round it off to 100. Now, if they have to pay bill for the one or two units above the free unit. If consumers do not pay for the extra units because they are unaware of the new method, they have to pay penalty of Rs 147.” Considering the difficulties they are facing, he said Tangedco should raise awareness about the cancellation of the rounding-off method among consumers.
A functionary from Bharathiya Electricity Employees Federation TNIE, “Tangedco usually sends SMS and emails about their billing details, but has failed to inform about the new system.” The federation submitted a petition to the Tangedco headquarters on this issue. Repeated attempts to reach Tangedco CMD Rajesh Lakhani went in vain.
When contacted, Coimbatore region chief engineer RK Vinothan told TNIE that as per the decision of officers in the headquarters, assessors are following the new method. When asked about creating awareness about the cancellation of the round-off, he said that he would look into it.