Reporter’s diary: To merge or not to merge, which is it?

CHENNAI: It seems Tangedco has become a random target of misinformation campaigns. Several rumours doing rounds on social media led to a frenzy of calls to the power utility’s main line and branch offices.

The latest was that after seeding of the Aadhaar with the consumer’s number, Tangedco had issued a notice to consumers to merge multiple connections at their residential premises. Though Tangedco had proposed to levy a fixed charge of Rs 450 on domestic consumers with more than one connection, the TN Electricity Regulatory Commission rejected the proposal. It had also instructed Tangedco to inspect the domestic consumers’ premises and merge the multiple connections if they were violating TN Electricity Distribution Code 2004.

When the State government passed an order to compulsorily seed the Aadhaar with consumer’s number, it was speculated that the move was aimed at merging multiple domestic connections in individual houses. Now rumours abound on social media with some consumers sharing a notice issued by Tangedco’s Thiruvembur section asking them to merge the multiple connections.

Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji on Tuesday denied the reports and said that no instructions were given to the section offices in this regard. Tangedco officials too denied such a decision and added that the merger could be done after inspection, and only if any violation was found.

However, contrary to the Minister’s claim inspections are going on in the city.