JCF seeks installation of Smart Meters inside premises, rollback of inflated bills
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Jammu Citizens Forum (JCF) on Wednesday urged the administration to consider installation of Smart Power Meters inside the residential premises and business establishments instead of electric poles for larger consumer satisfaction and to dispel their genuine apprehensions on overcharging.
The Forum, at its meeting this afternoon, felt that the Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) must take consumers into confidence by expanding public outreach and clear the confusion on overbilling besides pre and postpaid tariff bills, especially in the wake of a significant segment of people either not being tech savvy or having no access to internet. Also, the widespread complaints about inflated bills compared to actual consumption of power need to be addressed on priority and course correction undertaken to instill confidence among the consumers. The JPDCL should not shy away from withdrawing such bills that do not match with the actual consumption, as there are complaints that even the dwelling units, having dwellers out of station, have been slapped with whopping power bills.
The Forum expressed concern over frequent and unscheduled power cuts during the ongoing humid monsoon season notwithstanding the administration assuring that metered areas would get uninterrupted power supply. The supervisory and field staff of the Power Development Department must address the public concerns on priority basis, which calls for a robust redressal mechanism, it stated.
The Jammu Citizens Forum also called for a multi-pronged awareness campaign on Smart Power Meters in the backdrop of genuine public apprehensions through mass and social media and suggested this to be area specific, keeping in view peculiar situations faced to the people of a particular area. The Forum felt that the trust deficit has been a major source of consumer dissatisfaction, leading to widespread public resentment.
In its next meeting, the Forum will have discussions on the Jammu Smart City Project to suggest measures to the government for further streamlining the initiative as per aspirations of the people.
Present in the meeting included K. B Jandial, former Member J&K Public Service Commission, Jagmohan Sharma, Ex-Chairman JPDCL, Raj Daluja, Soujayana Sharma, Ex- Commissioner, JMC, Daya Sagar, renowned columnist, Prof Ashok Aima, former Vice Chancellor, Central University Jammu, S. M Sahini, Ex- Director Tourism, Adarsh Pal Gupta, Senior Journalist, Adv H. C Jalmeria, Narinder Rohmetra, former Chief Engineer PHE and others.
