CHENNAI: Over the past one month, 5.4 lakh Chennai residents complained to Tangedco about electricity bills with exorbitant amounts. Most said that the bill amount was disproportionate to consumption and requested the power supplier to check if the meters were faulty.
The issue
The residents were handed earlier year’s bills owing to the ongoing lockdown and the consequent suspension of meter reading. “If the power consumption has not been noted during the lockdown (that is, if the 60th day since previous month’s calculation falls during this period), the consumers will have to pay the amount as calculated in the same month in 2019 (year without Covid),” said an official.
When, however, they started receiving many complaints, Tangedco issued a notice stating that consumers send photos of their current meter reading so that bills can be revised if needed. Since then, 5.4 lakh complaints were received from Chennai and over 10 lakh from across Tamil Nadu.
Complaints to be addressed
“Our house was locked for four months, but we received an electricity bill of Rs 4,500 rupees. We complained on the website and got our bill revised,” said R Vinayak, a resident of Velachery.
A lot of people, however, said their complaints are yet to be addressed. They said that at a time when they are struggling to cope with the inflation, these bills burden them further.
“We have complained more than three times in the past one month, but none took any action. We have not paid our bill yet and the deadline is over. They charged us Rs 3,200 for an empty house,” said KP Bala, a resident of Thiruvanmiyur. The bill payment window was closed on June 15.
Responding to this, TNEB officials said most of these 5.4 lakh complaints have been resolved. The officials said they are still accepting complaints and that they will be resolved if people complain online. They will be resolved within a maximum of two days and revised bills will be sent, according to TNEB officials.
Process to complain online
Login on https://www.tnebnet.org/awp/sendSuccess. Select ‘General Complaints’ and lodge the complaint. It will be resolved within a maximum of two days and revised bills will be sent, according to TNEB officials. But many say their plaints went unheeded.