At JERC public hearing, NGO roots for starting monthly billing in Chandigarh

Chandigarh, May 13

Suggestions poured in during a public hearing of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) here today.

The hearing, which was chaired by Jyoty Prashad, was organised on a petition filed by the UT Administration on tariff proposal for the financial year 2022-23.

In their objections and suggestions, the Indian Citizens’ Forum (ICF), an NGO, submitted that monthly billing for domestic and non-regulated sector (NRS) category of connections had not been started yet. The UT Administration cited shortage of staff as the reason for the non-compliance of the directive of the commission.

The NGO suggested that due to bi-monthly billing, consumers were being forced to pay a surcharge of 4 per cent of the total bill in case of not paying the bill by due date.

“For a speedy recovery of departmental dues, monthly billing system must be started. This will lead to revenue gain by reducing the defaulted payment. If still the commission wants to retain the bi-monthly billing, surcharge due to late payment should be reduced to 2 per cent per cycle,” the NGO suggested.

‘Penalty more for Delayed payment’

• The NGO, Indian Citizens’ Forum, suggested that due to bi-monthly billing, consumers were being forced to pay a surcharge of 4 per cent of the total bill in case of not paying the bill by due date.