Power connections exceed ration cards by 17 lakh
28/08/2019, T. RAMAKRISHNAN,CHENNAI
Officials of the State government, who are concerned about the growing losses of Tangedco, are clueless as to how the number of domestic electricity connections in the State has exceeded that of ration cards by around 17 lakh.
Against 2.05 crore ration cards, there are around 2.1 crore domestic power consumers, besides 11.2 lakh hut connections. Assuming that all households that fall under the hut connection category have ration cards, the total number of domestic power connections in the State comes to around 2.22 crore, hence the difference of 17 lakh.
Officials suspect that a large number of domestic consumers may have resorted to the “splitting of connections” to circumvent tariff slabs and ensure that they remain at the lower end of the slabs so that their power bills are as low as possible. The ‘practice’ is to have more than one domestic connection in one house, even though only one family lives there.
Under the present bi-monthly tariff system, domestic consumers get up to 100 units of free electricity, after which the price is ₹1.5 per unit for consumption of 101 units to 200 units and ₹3 per unit for 201 units-500 units.
For those who consume more than 500 units bi-monthly, the rates go up substantially — for 101 units to 200 units, the rate is ₹3.5 per unit; for 201 units to 500 units, ₹4.6 per unit; and for 501 units and above, ₹6.6 per unit.
The power utility was planning to examine the matter of “splitting of connections” further, officials said.
However, consumer activist T. Sadagopan said it was not correct to take the data of ration cards as the basis for drawing a conclusion that a “large-scale splitting” of domestic connections had taken place. “Very often, many do not take ration cards. There are also instances of individuals having more than one property in the State. In some cases, people have ration cards outside Tamil Nadu but own properties in the State,” he noted. Instead of using the ration card data, Tangedco should take steps for “regularising illegal connections”, if any, he felt.
28/08/2019, T. RAMAKRISHNAN,CHENNAI
Officials of the State government, who are concerned about the growing losses of Tangedco, are clueless as to how the number of domestic electricity connections in the State has exceeded that of ration cards by around 17 lakh.
Against 2.05 crore ration cards, there are around 2.1 crore domestic power consumers, besides 11.2 lakh hut connections. Assuming that all households that fall under the hut connection category have ration cards, the total number of domestic power connections in the State comes to around 2.22 crore, hence the difference of 17 lakh.
Officials suspect that a large number of domestic consumers may have resorted to the “splitting of connections” to circumvent tariff slabs and ensure that they remain at the lower end of the slabs so that their power bills are as low as possible. The ‘practice’ is to have more than one domestic connection in one house, even though only one family lives there.
Under the present bi-monthly tariff system, domestic consumers get up to 100 units of free electricity, after which the price is ₹1.5 per unit for consumption of 101 units to 200 units and ₹3 per unit for 201 units-500 units.
For those who consume more than 500 units bi-monthly, the rates go up substantially — for 101 units to 200 units, the rate is ₹3.5 per unit; for 201 units to 500 units, ₹4.6 per unit; and for 501 units and above, ₹6.6 per unit.
The power utility was planning to examine the matter of “splitting of connections” further, officials said.
However, consumer activist T. Sadagopan said it was not correct to take the data of ration cards as the basis for drawing a conclusion that a “large-scale splitting” of domestic connections had taken place. “Very often, many do not take ration cards. There are also instances of individuals having more than one property in the State. In some cases, people have ration cards outside Tamil Nadu but own properties in the State,” he noted. Instead of using the ration card data, Tangedco should take steps for “regularising illegal connections”, if any, he felt.
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