Low tension power consumers in Telangana can pay the electricity bill based on their previous month’s metering.
The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission has decided that as the utility’s meter readers will not be able to visit the premises of consumers to take the reading or update the bill due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown.
T Sriranga Rao, Chairman of TSERC, in his order, has extended this relaxation to both the State Distribution companies through an interim order on the commission website factoring the difficulties faced following lockdown due to coronavirus.
For the energy consumed in the month of March and billed in April, the billing will be made on the basis of power consumption of March 2019. And in the case of connections provided after April 1, 2019, the bills will be raised based on minimum demand.
In the case of low tension categories barring agriculture, the demand raised will be equivalent to 50 per cent of the bill amount for April 2019.
The Regulatory Commission extended the relief announced by the Union Power Ministry to the Discoms for a moratorium on their payments for three months due to the lockdown.
Further, in the case of open access for intra-state transmission and distribution networks, the commission decided to defer processing of new applications and existing applications for enhancement of capacity till such time that the situation returns to normalcy.