How often do we concern ourselves with electricity issues? Well, a social media listening exercise reveals that there is a buzz around electricity topics in Chennai when consumers are faced with either interruptions in power supply or unusually high electricity bill. 

In the last one month, citizens in Chennai took to social media about 1,634 times to write about their concerns around power cuts and an inflated electricity bill from the TNEB! Nearly 70% of the users posted about how their EB bills shocked them. 63.2K users shared and interacted with posts about inflated electricity bills. 

A steady rise can be observed both in the number of posts and extent of engagement between July 29^th to August 4^th – around the time of electricity payment deadline.

Consumer experience in July billing cycle 

About 66% of the social media conversation around the July 2021 billing cycle has been happening on Twitter. Apart from satirical memes, most tweets on this topic follow a similar pattern – A user reports a sudden hike in their electricity bill amount, along with a picture of their white meter card/online account summary which captures a multifold increase from the previous or average electricity bill amount. 

While a few users suspect that readings have not been recorded accurately, few others question if meter assessment was carried out at all. In addition to concerns around assessment, most consumers highlight that key information around billing calculations have been left out in their bill alert. 

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Posts with a high level of engagement have been outlined below. User engagement on the posts suggest that several users corroborate and add to the claim of inflated bills. Additionally, a few users could be seen sharing instances of their billing issue being resolved. 

On August 9^th 2021, an electricity consumer from Chennai, posted a picture of his online account summary and remarked that an unusually high electricity bill amount of INR 32,200 had shocked him. The user’s billing history revealed that someone who had never paid above INR 20,000 was suddenly charged over 4 times his average EB bill amount. There definitely seems to be a need for more data around the previous month’s meter readings to confirm/validate the extent of variance. 

On July 30, 2021, another electricity user tweeted to the chief minister seeking redressal for his registered complaint against a billing error. His white meter card indicated that the meter readings were not recorded by the assessors for the May 2021 billing cycle. It can be observed that the consumer was thus charged as per the previous bill amount, that is the bill dated March 2021. 

How was the July 2021 electricity bill amount calculated?

All of the above call for a closer look at slab-wise calculations as per the tariff schedule: 

1. March 2021 – billing as per readings recorded

2. May 2021 – Consumer charged with previous bill amount. = INR 2044 

3. July 2021  

III. A. Bill calculations for one bi-month

III. B. Total bill amount for two bi-months = 6598 X 2 = INR 13196

III. C. Amount to be paid = 13196 – 2044 = INR 11152

Since the meter reading for May 2021 was not recorded, the consumer was provisionally charged as per March 2021 billing cycle. Subsequently, the July 2021 bill involved (i) breaking down the units consumed between March 2021 and July 2021 in half (ii) calculating slab-wise charges for two bi-monthly cycles and (iii) deducting the provisional bill amount paid in May 2021. The variance that the consumer observed between July 2021 bill amount vs their average bill amount arises due to the billing method detailed above: assessment based on previous billing cycle. 

The concerns around an unusually high electricity bill amount go beyond the users who took to social media to post about it, early this month. So far, over 14 lakh consumers have contested their July 2021 electricity bill amount.

What went wrong with the July 2021 EB bill?

Tamil Nadu went under a lockdown owing to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on May 8, 2021. The lockdown which lasted over two months disrupted the meter assessment that is usually carried out by assessor s/meter readers from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) on a bi-monthly basis. 

Given that the May 2021 meter reading was not recorded, TANGEDCO announced that electricity billing for the period will follow one of the three methods: 

1. Billing as per May 2019 – i.e. For May 2021, the consumer is charged the same as May 2019 (Non COVID period bill amount)
2. Billing as per previous assessment – i.e. For May 2021, the consumer is charged the same as March 2021 (the previous bill amount)
3. Billing as per self-assessment – i.e. For May 2021, the consumer is charged based on the reading furnished by the consumer. 

Towards the end of May 2021, TANGEDCO urged consumers to share the meter reading information for May 2021 via WhatsApp, SMS, letter or e-mail to the Assistant Engineers (AE) or Junior Engineers (JE) in the section office. In instances where consumers did not furnish reading details, they were charged either as per method (a) or (b). Consumers who had to pay their bill for May (2021) could pay the amount they had paid in May (2019) or in March (2021). Similarly those who had to pay the bill in June (2021) could pay the bill amount of June (2019) or April (2021).

What should consumers do about an unusually high EB bill?

Recently, TANGEDCO announced that the bills calculated as per May 2019/March 2021 will be reversed once the consumer provides the AE/JE in their section office with the exact meter reading for May 2021/June 2021 based on their self-assessment. 

The major drawback in this approach to electricity billing is that the onus is on the consumer. To ensure accuracy in billing is one of the key responsibilities of the service provider. By only relying on the consumer’s meter assessment, this method shifts the responsibility of accurate billing to the consumer. This approach is inconvenient for consumers at its best and unfair to them at worst. Especially, considering that not all consumers will be adept in furnishing the exact meter reading details for a given date. 

Is this history repeating itself?

In an almost uncanny string of events, the July 2021 billing cycle mirrors the June 2020 billing cycle which followed the state-wide lockdown in lieu of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, what started out as a series of social media posts claiming inflated electricity bills led to trending narratives around #tneblooting, consumer protests and a case against TANGEDCO for adopting an unfair billing method. 

The case was eventually dismissed by the Madras High Court, highlighting that assessment based on the previous billing cycle is within the regulations that outline procedure for billing in instances where meter assessments could not be carried out. 

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This billing cycle called for a better contingency plan and alternative arrangements on the part of the distribution company since this was not the first time that the meter assessment was disrupted by a state-wide lockdown. Alternatively, the state should have made an exception for meter assessment and allotted specific time slots to ensure that meter readings were noted down by assessors within the assessment period. Above all, there is a strong need for long-term solutions that can prevent disruptions in meter assessments and improve consumer understanding of electricity billing. 

Consumer friendly EB bill information and Smart meters – the need of the hour

A review of consumer accounts recorded during both July 2021 and July 2020 billing cycles reflects that there are underlying problems with electricity billing in Tamil Nadu. The white meter card (WMC) does not provide adequate information for electricity consumers on the billing calculations, breakup of charges and subsidy, among others. Data obtained through an RTI response suggests that although the online account provides more information, only 22.5% consumers access it. Implying that a majority of electricity consumers in Tamil Nadu do not receive complete information around their electricity bill amount. Further, physical assessment of meter readings add to the challenges that consumers face with electricity billing. 

A recent study on ‘Making Electricity Bills Consumer Friendly’ reveals that Tamil Nadu consumers face the following challenges in understanding their electricity bills. 

In order to overcome such challenges and ensure that disrupted meter assessments do not have adverse effects among electricity consumers, it is essential to accelerate the smart meter deployment in Tamil Nadu and support it with consumer friendly billing information. 

Smart meters are electronic devices that record electricity consumption and transmit the data to the network operator. Replacing existing meters with smart meters will enable daily monitoring of consumption and ensure that actual consumption is accurately billed. It will also support better management of peaks and hence stabilise the grid. Above all, in addition to avoiding manual errors in assessment, smart meters help the distribution company reduce distribution losses and improve billing efficiency. At the same time, it enables consumers to keep a check on their consumption and thereby reduce electricity usage and expenditure.

An increase in deployment of smart meters in the state is sure to transform the billing system in Tamil Nadu. TANGEDCO has taken its first step forward with smart meter installation on a pilot basis in T Nagar, Chennai. There is a need to ensure that this initiative is scaled-up and smart meters are deployed in other parts of the state in a timely fashion. Technology can prove to be useful for information disclosure in the electricity bills and ease the transition from a bi-monthly billing cycle to a monthly billing cycle.

**Errata: There was an error in calculating the bill amount for March 2021 in the first published version, which has since been corrected.

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