Reporter's diary: The age-old conundrum: To pay or not to pay
Consumers were shocked to receive exorbitant energy bills, as Tangedco had added the ASD to the bi-monthly energy bill without any intimation to consumers.
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CHENNAI: Tangedco’s decision to both collect additional security deposit (ASD) and then suspend it without any explanation has led to a lot of speculation.
Consumers were shocked to receive exorbitant energy bills, as Tangedco had added the ASD to the bi-monthly energy bill without any intimation to consumers. The deposit is calculated based on consumers’ energy consumption pattern over the last year.
With the steep revision of electricity tariff, the EB bills have spiked considerably. The ASD was added agony. However, the collection was suspended based on the Chief Minister’s instructions. But the public is not aware of the latest development, as Tangedco did not make it public.
S Peter Alphonse, chairman of Minorities Commission, GoTN, tweeted, appreciating the ‘Dravidian Model’ government for quickly resolving a woman’s video complaint of a massive spike in bill — it went up from Rs 4,000 to Rs 14,000.
At the end of the video, you can hear a person being cheeky and calling it as a Dravidian Model government: “I sent the video to Minister Thangam Thennarasu. In 3 minutes, he assured me that he’d look into it. On Tuesday morning, he informed me that the consumer had received a higher sum due to increased consumption during summer which also resulted in an increase in her deposit. He also told me that he has instructed officials to collect the deposit based on yearly usage and not a month,” he tweeted.
Now, the Congress leader’s tweet raised more questions, first of them being: Is the ASD suspended or not?
