GE T&D India gets order from Powergrid to set up transmission asset management centre in Odisha

Tata Power has drawn flak for allegedly exploiting consumers with inflated bills and service-related discrepancies. At a time the power DISCOM is raking in the moolah by cheating its customers, the latter have little knowledge about the former’s cheating. According to sources, the company is deceiving the customers through pro rata billing which ensures that you dont get charged for a service you haven’t used. Customers are made to pay bill for 25-27 days instead of 30 days. As a result customers have to pay bills for 13-14 times instead of 12 times in a year. This leads to violation of slab norms. Take the case of Soubhagya De, a resident of Bhubaneswar. In the month of May he had to pay for two free units when the DISCOM billed him for 48 free units instead of 50 units. In the second slot, Soubhagya had to pay for 144 units instead of 150 units. This way, he had to make pay for extra 8 units which led him to pay Rs45-50 extra.” Priyabrata Mohapatra, a resident of Balasore, says, “Tata Power is exploiting its customers violating guidelines of Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission. Going by the Clause 148 of OERC Distribution Conditions of Supply Code 2019 customers are pro rata billing when they ask for electricity disconnection. According to another clause reading must be done for an entire month. Though Tata Power is breaching its norms openly, OERC has kept mum on the issue. OERC’s silence, meanwhile, has raised many questions among us. More than 95 lakh customers are dependent on Tata Power out of which 50 per cent customers are being cheated. This way, Tata is earning more than Rs 12 crore illegally. Energy analyst Anand Mohapatra refuted such allegations saying there is no truth that consumers are being exploited with inflated bills. Earlier, CEO of Tata Power North, Bhaskar Sarkar Wednesday after having discussion with Standing Committee of Energy, refuted the claims of inflated energy bills. “We had not done maintenance work last year due to covid and cyclone. We are presently looking after maintenance so that our consumers will not have to face power outage in coming days,” he had said.