Higher consumption reason for hefty power bills, Tangedco tells HC

Chennai: Tangedco has said consumers are getting huge electricity bills since they spend more time at home due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The consumption calculation adopted by the corporation is in line with statutory regulations, it told the Madras high court on Monday.
Additional advocate-general P H Aravindh Pandian made the submission on a plea moved by M L Ravi, alleging that the methodology adopted by Tangedco to calculate power consumption during the Covid-19 lockdown period is arbitrary and unjust.
Filing his written arguments, Ravi submitted that Tangedco has relied on the previous bill amount to arrive at the present payable instead of considering units consumed the preceeding month. This results in low tension domestic consumers having to pay 12% to 50% higher charges than permitted under the Tamil Nadu Electricity Supply Code. Such method adopted by the corporation has affected 96% of domestic consumers, who have been forced to pay up to 50% higher charges, he added.