VIJAYAWADA: Once again clarifying that the power bills were not inflated, Energy Secretary Nagulapalli Srikant has said he asked the power distribution companies (discoms) to make available ledgers of all the 1.45 crore consumers for the last two years to clear the apprehensions regarding the bills. He added that any claim of excess billing was not true and that the discoms charged as per the norms.
Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, the Secretary reiterated that not a penny was charged extra and that if there were any errors, which wouldn’t be the case in most cases, consumers can call 1912 for clarity. “We have asked the discoms to put all the ledgers pertaining to the last 24 hours online. Consumers can check their power consumption and compare it with last year’s consumption. They can check if the bills are commensurately charged or not. The ledgers should be available on discoms website in a day or two,” he explained.
Srikant further said that power consumption in summer months was significantly higher than the preceding months. Citing last year’s example, the secretary said, “In February, 2019, domestic power consumption was 900 million units (MU). In March and April the same year, the average monthly consumption was between 1,400 Mu and 1,600 MU. This shows that there will be a 80 per cent increase in power consumption during summer. Now, lockdown in addition to summer has also added to the consumption,” he explained.
He rubbished reports of change in slab because of clubbing March and April (2020) bill as misconception. “We have divided the total consumption till May 5 into three parts and calculated the bills keeping in view the previous year’s consumption. So, there is no scope for the change of slab or excess billing down to the last rupee. That is why we will keep the last 24 months’ ledgers online for people to examine,” he noted.
Regarding the power tariff, the secretary noted that it was approved by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission duly holding talks with all the stakeholders.
“From November 2019, the APERC interacted with the stakeholders and approved the tariff we proposed duly considering their objections/suggestions/views. The notification for revised tariff was given in March,” he said. The secretary’s reply comes in wake of a few leaders demanding the State to roll back the revised tariff, alleging that it was resulting in change of slabs, burdening the consumers.