Miscellaneous charges collected by Tangedco up by nearly 100%

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Electricity and Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has increased miscellaneous charges collected by Tangedco by nearly 100 per cent. This will have an impact on new and existing consumers.

In addition to tariffs from the sale of power, Tangedco collects miscellaneous charges for service connection, meter rent, meter caution deposit, reconnection charges, development charges and so on. If a consumer applies for new single or three-phase domestic service connections, he/she has to spend nearly two times for various charges and deposits related to the new connection under the revised miscellaneous charges.

For LT domestic consumers, TNERC has approved service connection charges of Rs 1,000 for single-phase connection when compared to existing charges of Rs 500.

For three-phase connections, the service connection charges have been increased to Rs 1500, from Rs 750. Development charges for LT consumers for overhead infrastructure have been increased to RS 2,800 per service connection for a single phase from Rs 1,400 per service connection.

For three-phase connections, it has been increased to 2,000 per kilowatt from Rs 1,000 per kW.

Similarly, development charges for cable infrastructure have been increased from Rs 5,000 per service connection for single-phase LT consumers to Rs 7,000 per connection.

For three phases, it has been increased to Rs 5,000 per kW, from Rs 2,500 per kW service connection.

The security deposit for the single phase has been increased to Rs 300 per connection from Rs 200 per connection while for the three-phase, it has been hiked to Rs 900 per kW from Rs 600 kW.

Activist charges TNERC of hiding affidavit

The registration-cum-processing charges for LT consumers, except hut, have been increased to Rs 200 per service connection from Rs 100.

Under the new miscellaneous charges, a consumer seeking a three-phase domestic connection for five kW demand would end up spending as much as Rs 33,200 as against Rs 19,050 previously.

Tangedco has claimed that it has withdrawn its proposal for meter rent for LT consumers, fees for attending fault on LT consumers request, installation visiting fee, fees for tariff charges and revised test report charges following stakeholders’ suggestions.

Meanwhile, activist S Neelakanta Pillai accused the TNERC of acting illegally by hiding the additional affidavit filed by the Tangedco on August 23 from the public and stakeholders.

“To my query on charges for attending LT faults, the Tangedco replied to me on August 30. But it did not mention the additional affidavit. The commission, which was supposed to host the affidavit on its website, failed to do so in clear violation of the Appellate Tribunal orders. Who gave permission for the Tangedco and the commission to act secretly,” he questioned.