Public annoyed as new distribution code mandates them pay for Tangedco repair material

CHENNAI: Consumers can no longer complain about Tangedco workers asking them to buy cables and other materials connecting their meter and damaged pillar boxes or poles, as the amended distribution code has put the onus on them to safeguard and maintain cables/wires instead of the utility as was the case earlier.

A senior Tangedco official told DT Next that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) amended the distribution code after publishing the draft code seeking consumers’ comments. “We are simplifying enforcing the code,” the official added.

However, this does not cut the ice with the consumers. “When the underground cable for my domestic connection got damaged last year, Tangedco changed at its own cost. When it was damaged again due to overload, the officials insisted that I purchase the cable. After I complained to the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum, they changed the cable,” said V Gopalakrishnan, an activist who has opposed the move.

However, the forum cited the amendment in the distribution code that makes the consumer responsible for cable replacement that said, “The service connection materials, including wire or cable etc., connected with the meter from the nearest poles or pillar box from which it is tapped, shall be safeguarded and maintained by consumer and its replacement either due to damage or wear and tear owing to aging shall be at the cost of consumer.”

According to Coimbatore Consumer Cause Secretary K Kathirmathiyon, though Tangedco was responsible for the cable replacement earlier, it was the consumers who replaced it as the utility never supplied materials to field offices. The few consumers who knew that the code mandated the workers to procure the materials used to lodge complaint in such cases. “Now with the amendment, the consumers are made responsible,” he said.