Power Department not applying uniform power charges
Rs.190 is minimum charge in Thoubal district and Rs.410 in other parts
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 28, 2011: The Power department is not applying an uniformed power consumption charge which can only be seen as a biased policy of the department in the collection of bills from consumers.

Unlike in other parts of the country, the Power department in Manipur is not able to supply meters for measuring power consumption rates to each registered consumer.

As such they collect minimum rates from those consumers who are not provided with meters.

The department imposes a minimum of Rs.410 a month to a consumer after Meter Readers estimate at a lump sum the unit that could have been used by the consumer.

A consumer can negotiate with the Meter Reader but the amount cannot be below the minimum rate.

A decision of the Cabinet had recently revised the power consumption charges.

The revised rate was equal for domestic consumers in both hills and valley areas but it seems that the rates are not applied evenly in the valley areas.

Consumers in some areas of Thoubal and Imphal West districts are found paying only Rs.190 per month which is below half of the minimum collected from other consumers.

Discovering this inexplicable difference in the minimum charges, many consumers have expressed apprehension that the minimum power consumption charges are decided by engineers on their own will or on the insistence of men in power who fixed the minimum charges in their respective constituencies or districts.

A heated argument erupted today between consumers and officials when the consumers sought an explanation for the indiscriminate differences in the minimum power consumption charges imposed at the bill collection counters of Singjamei and Kongba sub-divisions of the department.

The issue was first raised by a retired officer of the electricity department.

Getting no satisfactory reply, the retired officer went back without clearing his due bill.

On the other hand, since the department started its drive against default consumers, people are thronging their respective bill collection counters to clear their due bills.

Consumers are seen standing in bee-lines to clear bills, a scene which has never been seen before.

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