Chennai: State govt’s March 14 announcement extending a rebate of 2 for a unit of power consumed by eateries and restaurants has led to unexpected consequences as officials have to make entries manually, delaying the process. This has led to short notice for payments, leaving consumers in the lurch.State govt had announced that the electricity consumers affected by the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders will be subsidised for excess power consumption considering the shift to electric and induction stoves. For the excess consumption, state govt will pay 2 a unit to Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (TNPDCL), while consumers will pay the remaining charges. TNPDCL later came up with an elaborate standard operating procedure to enable the subsidy, and directed assessors to classify the services while taking the meter readings in relevant categories to make sure that only eligible consumers get the subsidy.Many consumers, however, said the assessors take longer than usual to upload the consumption data, resulting in delayed generation of invoices. N Purushothaman of Avadi said, “Usually, we get the notification on consumption charges the day after the meter reading is taken. But in April, the reading was taken in the third week and the invoice was generated on May 2 with the last date to make the payment by May 6.”TNPDCL officers said that only large restaurants have been properly classified under the eatery category. “Small outlets need to be inspected, after which we will verify that the service is used for cooking purposes. This is causing a delay,” said a field officer.Senior officials said it is a one-time process to identify and classify such services. “From the next reading, the consumption charges will be immediately communicated to consumers,” said a TNPDCL IT wing official.T Sadagopan, president of TN Progressive Consumer Centre, said TNPDCL should extend the time for payment in cases where invoices were generated belatedly. “Small eateries are already paying huge sums of money for cylinders. Electricity consumption has also gone up due to use of induction stoves. So, it would be difficult for them to pay huge bills on short notice,” he said.It should be noted that high-tension consumers pay consumption charges of 9.40 a unit, whereas low-tension consumers pay 6.45 to 10.45 a unit, depending on their consumption.
