~Consumer Awareness on Bills generated based on actual meter readings ~
In view of lockdown announced by the Government due to COVID19 Pandemic, Honorable Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) had issued Practice Directions for the Distribution Companies to withdraw Meter reading and Bill distribution services and continue to bill the consumers on the estimated basis the last month consumption (i.e. Feb / Mar 20). These estimated bills were made available on all digital platforms (registered email id, mobile no, Customer portal & Mobile app) as advised in the Practice Directions.
In view of the above, even in the peak summer months, while consumers consumed higher amount of energy, the bills were raised for lower consumption (base February/March).
After the Government declared Unlock 1.0, Tata Power started meter reading activity in green and orange zones and now bills based on actual readings are being generated.
For the benefit of its consumers, Tata Power explains the process:
- Once the meter reading is obtained from site, Consumption for the entire period from Feb / Mar 20 to June 20 is calculated
- Billing for entire period (Feb/Mar till June 2020) is recalculated considering evenly balanced consumption for each of the months depending upon number of days in each bill period
- Due credit is given to the earlier estimated billed units and corresponding amounts in the recalculated bill
- While recalculating the bills for past months, the slab benefit (0-100, 101 to 300, 300 to 500 and above 500) is also considered for the respective periods
- Final bill is raised after adjusting consumption and bill amount as per the estimated bills raised in the interim period.
Appeal to Tata Power Consumers:
Please appreciate that COVID 19 and the lockdown across the country has altered our lifestyle significantly. For the period of 91 days for which the bills are being sent out, the family remained inside home for all 24 hrs. Tata Power would like the consumers to look for such lifestyle changes while reflecting over last 3 months of lockdown and compare it with lifestyle pre lockdown or last year same months.
Tata Power has developed a guide on its portal to allow consumers to assess additional consumption due to higher use of household appliances. The table includes all typical household appliances like fan, lights, refrigerator, television and washing machine and air-conditioner. One is required to input the number of appliances in the house and personal judgement on how much additional hours one might have used them during lockdown. The guide will indicate approximately how much the consumption would go up each day. We are confident that consumers would make use of this facility and find it useful. It would help address their concern of high consumption to a great extent.
In case you still have any questions, please contact us using the 24*7 Helpline 19123, write to customercare@tatapower.com or visit any of its operational Customer Relations Centre.
Tata Power is India’s largest integrated power company and, together with its subsidiaries & jointly controlled entities, has an installed/ managed capacity of 12,742 MW. A pioneer in the field, it has a presence across the entire power value chain - generation of renewable as well as conventional power including hydro and thermal energy, transmission & distribution, trading and coal & freight logistics. With nearly 2.6GW of renewable energy assets in solar and wind accounting for 30% of the company's portfolio, Tata Power is a leader in clean energy generation. In line with the company's view on sustainable and clean energy development, Tata Power is steering the transformation of utilities to integrated solutions by looking at new business growth in EV charging & storage, distributed generation & rooftops, micro grids and home automation & smart meters. It has successful public-private partnerships in generation, transmission & distribution in India, namely ‘Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd.’ with Delhi Vidyut Board for distribution in North Delhi; 'Tata Power Ajmer Distribution Ltd.' with Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. for distribution in Ajmer; 'Powerlinks Transmission Ltd.' with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for evacuation of Power from Tala hydro plant in Bhutan to Delhi; 'Maithon Power Ltd.' with Damodar Valley Corporation for a 1050 MW Mega Power Project at Jharkhand. Tata Power is serving more than 2.6 million distribution consumers in India and has developed the country’s first 4000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra (Gujarat) based on super-critical technology.
With its 105 years track record of technology leadership, project execution excellence, world-class safety processes, customer care and driving green initiatives, Tata Power is poised for multi-fold growth and committed to 'lighting up lives' for generations to come. Visit us at: www.tatapower.com
