Chennai residents face high bills from tariff misclassifications

Residents in Chennai are upset over unexpected high electricity bills caused by changes in their service categories. One resident, Chitra Devi, received a bill of Rs 4,156 for consuming only 386 units. She discovered that her connection was wrongly switched to a ‘common supply’ category, which charges Rs 8.55 per unit, instead of the domestic rate she should have received. Another tenant, D Annadurai, faced a similar issue when he moved into a multi-tenement building. Despite filing a complaint, he has not seen any resolution. Many consumers are now voicing their frustrations as they receive bills much higher than anticipated. The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) introduced a new tariff category for common supply in 2022. This change aimed to address 9 lakh connections that were incorrectly classified under the domestic category. However, Tangedco's method of converting these categories has been disorganized and without proper inspection. As a result, many consumers unknowingly find their services changed. In response to public outcry, Tangedco created a new sub-category for smaller apartments to reduce costs slightly. Still, the actual conversions have not occurred reliably, leading to significant confusion. A consumer advocate highlighted that without proper supervision, even genuine domestic connections are being misclassified. Tangedco officials claim that a lack of manpower has contributed to the mistakes. They insist there is no pressure on workers to accelerate these conversions, stating that their goal is to avoid misuse by merging multiple connections. However, they acknowledged the complaints and indicated that they will investigate the issues raised by consumers.