Hyderabad: Following the assurance of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao during Assembly monsoon session that the electricity bills covering the entire lockdown period will be split month-wise to save the consumers from paying inflated bills, the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd (TSSPDCL) advised consumers to reach out to the Discoms either through email or meet the concerned Revenue Collection Centres (EROs) for redressal.
Domestic consumers have been demanding month-wise bills stating that billing based on meter reading of the entire period moved them upwards into the next bracket in the slab system, resulting in highly inflated bills.
“We will reduce the burden on the common man by segregating the entire bill month-wise so that they will be saved from paying additional amounts. I will immediately order the Discoms to do so,” Chief Minister said on September 15, 2020 replying to the short discussion on power in the State Assembly here.
Speaking to Telangana Today on Tuesday, TSSPDCL Chairman and Managing Director G Raghuma Reddy said that the Discoms, both Northern and Southern have already split the April-May-June 2020 bills into three as per the directions of the government, except 0.1 per cent of the consumers, all others have paid the bills as per the bills generated and handed over to them.
Clarifying the issue further, Raghuma Reddy added that the Chief Minister has said that the government will consider the requests of those who were given inflated bills. “In fact the TSSPDCL earned Rs 53 crore less when compared to the same period in 2019. While the experts in the field of electricity distribution say that the system of charging bills based on April-May-June of 2019 was the correct method to adopt, we still believe that those who have a genuine compliant can either mail us or meet the local ERO and their problem will be solved,” Raghuma Reddy said.
Reiterating TSSPDCL’s stand that the total period of lockdown was in fact divided by the number of months and adjusted with the amounts already paid, he assured consumers that the present system of billing has been approved by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSREC) and urged the consumers not to believe false information and rumours that the slabs of the domestic consumers were changed into a higher payment zone as meter reading accumulates in a period of three months.
However, Raghuma Reddy said that the compliance has slightly improved after the phased lifting of the lockdown. “After the discom staff were allowed to visit the residences to take meter readings and generate bills, the system is back on track. In fact, those who paid bills based on 2019 meter readings said that their bills during lockdown have actually come down, as many moved out to their native places and returned home after lifting off lockdown,” he said.
