The court was hearing a plea moved by the Southern Railway seeking a direction to Tangedco not to levy low power-factor compensation surcharge. Justice Anand Venkatesh in his order observed that the arguments raised by the Southern Railway have already been covered in a batch of similar petitions moved by a section of high-tension consumers of the power company. Appearing for the railways, Assistant Solicitor General of India G Karthikeyan submitted that all the passenger trains were suspended as part of the lockdown and only the freight

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Charge less for power consumed by industries during lockdown: Madras High Court
The court has asked the supplier to adopt a minimum-demand charges system for the lockdown period and adjust the excess amount collected in future bills.

Published: 27th October 2020 05:25 AM | Last Updated: 27th October 2020 05:25 AM | A+A A-
Madras High Court The Madras High Court (File Photo| PTI) By Express News Service
CHENNAI: Stating that the State power supplier — Tangedco — was killing the “goose that lays golden eggs” by slapping maximum-demand bills on industries during lockdown periods, the Madras High Court on Monday directed the electricity company to issue revised bills to high tension consumers.

The court has asked the supplier to adopt a minimum-demand charges system for the lockdown period and adjust the excess amount collected in future bills.

The court was hearing a plea moved by the Southern Railway seeking a direction to Tangedco not to levy low power-factor compensation surcharge. Justice Anand Venkatesh in his order observed that the arguments raised by the Southern Railway have already been covered in a batch of similar petitions moved by a section of high-tension consumers of the power company.

Appearing for the railways, Assistant Solicitor General of India G Karthikeyan submitted that all the passenger trains were suspended as part of the lockdown and only the freight trains were operated during the said period. He further said that despite the operation of the freighter trains during the lockdown, the operational costs for the railways still ran higher.

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The railways argued that the maximum-demand charges and compensation charges for low power factor were being levied by the Tangedco on high-tension consumers when the commercial establishments were shut during the lockdown. The Southern Railway made separate submissions with regard to electricity consumption from each of its divisions. Justice Anand Venkatesh disposing of the plea cited a batch of petitions dated August 14 moved by several high-tension consumers.

While hearing the batch of petitions, the judge had stated: “If this is allowed to continue, it will lead to permanent shutting down of industries. The financial crunch faced by industries and the huge challenges they are likely to face after the pandemic have been made worse by Tangedco levying maximum-demand charges.” He also said in his order that Tangedco is virtually killing the goose that lay golden eggs.

The court then directed the Tangedco to issue revised bills to the consumers by adopting minimum-demand charges during the lockdown period. The court also rejected the submissions made by Tangedco that it would suffer huge losses if it is allowed to collect only minimum and not maximum-demand charges from high-tension consumers. It may be noted that a division bench of the HC, on July 15, had dismissed the petitions filed by domestic consumers against Tangedco, alleging that power consumption calculation method adopted by it during lockdown was unfair