Senthilbalaji and Nirmalkumar Spar in Assembly Over Power Bills and Vacancies

Former electricity minister V Senthilbalaji and incumbent minister R Nirmalkumar traded barbs in the Assembly in Chennai on Friday over complaints of inflated electricity bills, unreachable official contact numbers, and staff vacancies in the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL).

Senthilbalaji, the Coimbatore South MLA, initiated the debate by pointing out contradictory statements between the minister and TNPDCL officials regarding erratic power bills. He stated that while the minister claimed complaints were few, the TNPDCL chairman and managing director noted that 3.7 lakh services recorded high consumption.

Senthilbalaji also highlighted that 23 chief engineer posts and two key director positions, including the distribution head, remained vacant in TNPDCL, linking these vacancies to unreliable power supply over the last three months. He added that official numbers on the centralised grievance system, Minnagam, were unreachable due to administrative failures during number portability after changing service providers, and cited delays of up to a month in getting new meters.

Intervening in the discussion, Nirmalkumar clarified that TNPDCL voluntarily reinspected 3.7 lakh services that showed a three-fold increase in consumption following complaints on social media. He said officials detected 2,719 mismatches between actual and recorded consumption, comprising 1,350 defective meters and 1,369 wrong readings by assessors. Nirmalkumar blamed the table reading method used in April during assembly elections for high bills in subsequent months and assured that the issue had been resolved.

During his reply to the demand for grants for the energy department, Nirmalkumar announced that there will be no electricity tariff revision for all consumer categories this year.

The minister also announced several infrastructure projects, including additional 33kV feeders for 20 substations in Chennai at a cost of about Rs 104 crore and the conversion of 1,250 distribution transformer structures in Chennai into ring main units for about Rs 250 crore. Additionally, TNPSC will fill 2,558 vacant posts in the department alongside 10,000 contract workers.