Consumers express shock over exorbitant bi-monthly electricity bills this year

Consumers express shock over exorbitant bi-monthly electricity bills this year

They say the bi-monthly bill for June and July was particularly high; TNPDCL officials say the extended summer this year contributed to a rise in electricity consumption compared to last year

Major issue: Electricity officials say some assessors engage in table-recording malpractice, wherein they do not physically pay a visit to residential buildings to check the meters. FILE PHOTo

R. Srikanth

Chennai. 29.07.2026

Hundreds of consumers have raised complaints about getting exorbitant bi-monthly electricity bills this year compared to last year. Particularly, domestic consumers in the city claimed that they were shocked seeing the electricity charges for the bi-monthly usage of June and July.

The residents have been sending complaints online to local officials of the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL) about the exorbitant bills.

S. Manish, a resident of Nungambakkam, pointed out in his complaint that he would normally get electricity bills ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹6,000, but in this cycle, he received a bill of ₹10,000.

Delayed assessment

Several consumers complained that the primary reason for the high electricity bills were due to delayed assessment of the meters. Normally, the assessors are permitted a cushion of five days from the regular assessment cycle to complete the job. But residents complained that the delays are longer.

Bajarullah Khan, a resident of Pattabhiram, claimed his electricity bill went up mainly because of the delayed assessment of the meters.

A senior TNPDCL official said that the city’s extended summer this year has driven up electricity consumption compared to last year.

New peak demand

The city breached the peak power demand by crossing 5,000 mega watt (MW) on June 10.

As per the data available with the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC), the average peak demand in the city climbed to 4,500 MW, up from previous year’s average of 4,000 MW.

The official added that the peak demand, at times, almost reached 4,900 MW for sustained periods.

Local electricity officials cited shortage of assessors as the cause for delayed meter reading.

An official said that some assessors are engaged in table-recording malpractice, where-in they fail to pay a visit physically for assessing the electricity meters.

Consumer activist T. Sadagopan wants self-assessment of meters to be reintroduced until the assessors shortage problem is addressed.