CHENNAI: Amid complaints of inflated power bills by domestic consumers, the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation (TNPDCL) has identified 3.70 lakh services where high variation in consumption charges has been recorded.In a circular to all distribution circular, TNPDCL chairman Arun Roy has instructed all field officials right from chief engineer to assistant engineers to physically verify the consumption charges at doorsteps and carry out corrections if any error is noted. A chief engineer should inspect at least 25 households, superintendent engineers should verify 50 households, while executive engineers should visit 75 households where higher variation in consumption charges has been reported. Assessment officers should inspect 150 households, and the entire process should be completed before August 7, said the circular.TNPDCL officials said that the services where consumption charges have gone up threefold compared to May’s bill have been taken into consideration. “Of 3.7 lakh consumers with higher variations, about 15,000 services have consumed beyond 1,000 units, one lakh consumers have consumed 500 units. The remaining consumers have consumed less than 500 units. Only during inspections, we will come to know how many services are actually affected by misreading of consumption,” the official said.
