'One house, One connection' scheme raises concern among users

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation’s announcement of the 'One House, One Connection' scheme to collect a fixed charge of Rs 450 from the domestic consumers having additional connections has created a lot of apprehensions among the individual house owners who feel it is an indirect attempt to take away 100 free units.

In the tariff petition filed with TNERC, Tangedco has stated that each house or residence or premises shall generally be given only one service connection unless it is an apartment complex. “However additional connection can be permitted if it is rented or leased out to different families and occupying a separate portion. Adequate proof like a rental agreement or lease deed etc may be produced. For additional connection, bi-monthly fixed charges of Rs 450 will be charged,” it said.

P Viswanathan, convenor, Chitalapakkam Residents' Association Coordination Committee said the Minister's announcement is ambiguous and should be clarified. “We understand that the individual houses with additional connections will be charged Rs 450 as a fixed charge. It will impact those people living in the rented houses as they have to bear the additional charge apart from increased electricity charges,” he said.

Citizen’s Contribution in Democracy founder S Neelakanta Pillai said such a provision would give a scope of misuse by the Tangedco officials.

A senior Tangedco official said there need not be any ambiguity. “No tenants will be charged fixed charges,” the official said, adding there are domestic consumers who are misusing the 100 free units subsidy by getting additional connections to keep their electricity charges low. “We will only charge fixed charges of Rs 450 from domestic consumers who are having an additional connection,” he said.

K Vishnu Mohan Rao, senior researcher of Civic and Consumer Action Group said the scheme would help arrest the revenue leak of Tangedco.