JERC breather for power consumers

NT NETWORK

Panaji

To mitigate hardship of electricity consumers and the electricity department in view of the nationwide lockdown imposed due  to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission  has provided relief to power consumers for the period March 24 to June 30, 2020.

The order issued by the JERC says that the electricity department  shall have the flexibility to raise bills to their consumers by direct meter reading wherever possible, by provisional billing and by encouraging the consumers to take their own meter readings.

The department can make a WhatsApp number available to the consumers to facilitate the same, or by serving electricity bills by electronic means such as email, SMS, WhatsApp etc.

“EDG shall encourage all sorts of digital payments without demanding the bank transaction charges from the consumer. EDG shall extend the due date for payment of electricity bills including those already raised where the due dates fall between March 24, 2020 and June 30, 2020 by further two weeks without late payment surcharge. Provided further that if such extended due date falls beyond June 30, 2020, it will not be extended beyond June 30, 2020,” reads the order.

“The commission has reduced LPSC@ 1% p.m. instead of 2% p.m. as provided in its tariff orders dated May 20, 2019. A moratorium on payment of fixed charges is provided to all industrial and commercial consumers for the bills raised during the period from March 24, 2020 to June 30, 2020, which they can avail if they so desire. These deferred charges shall be recovered in an equated manner over next three bills to be raised after June 30, 2020,” it reads further.

The JERC said that a moratorium on payment of fixed charges is provided to all industrial and commercial consumers for the bills raised during the period from March 24, 2020 to June 30, 2020, which they can avail if they so desire.

These deferred charges shall be recovered in an equated manner over next three bills to be raised after June 30, 2020.