While hailing the Tamil Nadu Government and the State Electricity Board for implementing most of the provisions envisaged in the Draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules 2020, the Federation of Coimbatore Industrial Associations (FOCIA) -- comprising 19 associations-- has put forth some suggestions with respect to new connection, additional load, metering, billing, and grievance-redressal, pertaining to MSMEs.
The Federation has urged for stringent provisions in the Draft Rules to wipe out corruption in sanctioning of new connection/ or additional load, the need to give priority to MSMEs in sanctioning new connection, besides inclusion of a provision for penalising officials for delay in providing the same within the specified time limit of 7 to 30 days.
At present, the customer is blamed for any defect or damage in the installed meters, the FOCIA representatives said, suggesting the need for assigning the task to Neutral Testing Centres.
The Draft Rules should include provisions to implement concessional tariff for consumption during late night hours, reduction in the time frame for resolving grievances to 7 to 10 days for any forum as against the stipulated time frame of 30 to 45 days at present and “power quality”.
FOCIA has in its representation to the Under Secretary, Ministry of Power stressed the need for defining “quality power”, besides underscoring that the same (definition) be acceptable to all stakeholders.
The Federation has suggested the need to train and educate consumers about maintaining the power factor to avoid penalties.