CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has begun collecting pending GST of Rs 34 crore from one crore of its consumers across the State.
TANGEDO imposed 18 per cent GST (9 per cent CGST + 9 per cent SGST) on 17 categories of its services on July 1, 2017. Owing to software limitations, however, it has been collecting the tax only from five categories since 2017, according to sources. Recently, the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) upgraded its software to include the remaining 12 and sent the GST bills pending under these categories to consumers.
Notably, most consumers and even officials are unaware of this recent update. M Ravichandran, a Medavakkam resident, said he received an electricity bill of Rs 550, including a GST of Rs 90 this month. When he approached the electricity office concerned, the officials could not answer his queries properly as they themselves were unaware of the update; Ravichandran has, nonetheless, paid the bill.
A senior official told TNIE that the company has instructed officials concerned to display the GST rates at all electricity offices and spread awareness among the consumers about the update. The PSU, however, has not set any deadline for the consumers to pay the pending GST bills and officials have been told to not force the consumers to pay the GST bills. The senior official promised that the company will not disconnect any connection for this reason.
Services wherein GST applies
1) Application fee
2) Rental charges against metering equipment
3) Testing fee for meters, transformers
4) Labour charges from consumers for shifting of meters or shifting of service lines
5) Charges for duplicate bill
6) Capacitor compensation charges for industrial consumers
7) Reconnection charges
8) Recoveries from consumers towards damage to TANGEDCO properties
9) Charges for furnishing certified copies of documents to consumer
10) Charges for changing of meter at the request of the consumer
11) Charges for temporary disconnection
12) Replacement of meter card
13) Inspection charges
14) Name transfer charges
15) Service charges towards cheque dishonour
16) Cheque dishonour restoration charges
17) Belated payment surcharge pertains to all GST applicable charges