Minister for Power R. Kamalakannan on Wednesday informed the Assembly that the Electricity Department will look into specific complaints of ‘inflated’ power bills.
The Minister in his reply to a special mention made by AIADMK legislator A. Anbalagan and DMK MLA R. Siva on inflated bills and installation of smart meters, said the department had been directed to look into consumer complaints. Not satisfied with the reply, AIADMK legislators staged a walk out.
The Minister said the government had decided to replace old meters with smart meters under the Centrally assisted Restructured-Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme.
Under the scheme, the department had decided to purchase Chinese-made low power radio frequency meters and install in 42,500 households in the urban area. The Centre would bear 50% of the total cost of ₹39. 53 crore involved in the procurement of new meters. Since the UT was facing a funds crunch, the government had decided to reimburse the company after collecting the cost from the consumers.
100% accurate meters
The meter was 100% accurate and would lead to substantial reduction in man-made errors in billing. It will also lead to the reduction in power loss and power theft, he said.
Mr. Anbalagan and Mr. Siva said consumers were getting huge amount as power tariff bill. The power tariff bill had gone up threefold in June compared to the previous months, they said.
Congress legislator T. Djeamourthy wanted the government to have a re-look at the tariff hike.