ACD shock!: Jacks up power bills in the name of additional consumer deposit in Telangana

Mahbubnagar: Levying additional consumer deposit (ACD) charges by the electricity distribution companies in Telangana has come as a shocker to the consumers in the recent months, as the new billing system is burdening consumers with additional monthly bills.

Unlike earlier, where the consumers had to deposit some fixed amount at the time of applying for a new electricity meter based on an assumed fixed load up to a certain limit of units. However, at present the Electricity department has unilaterally changed its policy and is charging additional consumer deposit to the monthly electricity bill, because of which the consumers are feeling the pinch of increased electricity charges.

According to senior officials from the Electricity department from Mahbubnagar, the new levying of ACD charges on consumers has started only recently and it is going to affect only those consumers whose monthly consumption of electricity goes beyond 300 units.

"Usually, when the consumer applies for the household electricity meter a deposit of around Rs 2,000 is taken from the consumers assuming they will have a load of around 2.5-3.5 kilowatt (KW) per day, however, if the load goes beyond 4 KW then as per the new policy of the Electricity department ACD charges on those excess used units will be added to the monthly electricity bill. And this is only a one-time deposit taken from the consumers and not added every month," said the senior official on anonymity while explaining the new ACD charges adding to the monthly electricity bills.

Explaining further, the senior official said earlier this policy was implemented to the commercial and industrial users, however, of late, this has also been applied to the domestic users, based on their energy consumption levels.

If a customer uses more than the monthly stipulated energy units beyond that of a domestic consumer then only the ACD charges will be added to that particular consumer.

However, the people are expressing their worry over the sudden hike in the electricity charges. While pouring her woes, Laxmi, a house owner from Vijayanagar colony of Jadcherla mandal in Mahbubnagar, said from their usual monthly bill of Rs 400 to 500, she had to pay an amount of Rs 4000 in October last year and when tried to enquire with the Electricity department on this, they did not give clear answer and blamed her of using excess electricity during that month.

Another consumer Ram Chander of the Housing Board Colony of Yenugonda village in Mahbubnagar also expressed his concern of rising electricity bill during certain months. "These days we are receiving uneven rise in the monthly amount of electrify bills. During November, I received a bill of just Rs 150, while the subsequent month I was charged a sum of Rs 1,700. I was shocked to see such a sudden increase in the electricity bill by the Electricity department," said Ram Chander.

The consumers in Mahbubnagar district are demanding the government to do away with the ACD charges and save them from the additional burden of monthly electrify bills. "Already, the cost of everything we buy has increased and the cost of living has increased many folds during the past two years. On the top of this, now this government is introducing stealthy way of burdening the consumers with ACD charges," says Govind Nayak, a consumer from Badepally.