MELAKA: More than 500 customers gathered at Wisma Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), Jalan Banda Kaba, here, today to demand an explanation for unusually high electricity bill charges.
Bachang Baru resident Pok Awe Chon, 72, said he was shocked to receive a bill on April 14 with a current charge rate of RM2,068 with arrears amounting to RM266 over a 121-day period.
He added, that a day earlier, he had received a bill totalling RM266 without any arrears, over a 29-day period.
“I was surprised that the April bill reached over RM2,000, while the latest one amounts to RM740, with RM3,075 arrears.
“Before this, I only had to pay about RM300 each month and had never missed a payment, but for the bill on April 14, I had to pay RM2,334,” said Pok, who is staying with five family members.
He said there were four air conditioners, a fridge, and a television, but maintained that he did not switch on all the electrical items, except the fan, during the day.
Zulhusmi Othman, 31, said his wife was puzzled when she was informed that her father-in-law, who lives in Taman Merdeka, had lodged a complaint with TNB over a sudden rise in electricity bill charges despite not having switched to the smart meter yet, but no TNB representative had dropped by to check the meter for three months.
Not only that, when his wife met a TNB representative to get an explanation, she was shocked to find out that she had to pay more than RM1,700 for charges before and after the smart meter conversion in March.
“My father-in-law realised there was something wrong with the old meter and the reading was inaccurate.
“Even after the main switch was turned off, the bill increased to more than RM900.
“After the conversion to smart meter, the April bill rose to over RM800,” he added.
They were among the TNB state account users at the TNB Meet the Customers Day, here, which is being held for five days, starting yesterday.
TNB Melaka customer service head Ahmad Rezahan Mohammad said, as of 12.30pm today, a total of 580 complaints were recorded from domestic and commercial users on unusually high bill charges and smart meter problems after two days of the programme.
“Many have already accepted the detailed explanations by our representatives during the programme.
“Some users are asking for TNB to do smart meter checks at their homes, and we do have a special team of about 18 people on the ground for that,” he added.
Rezahan said he would consider continuing such a programme outside the confines of the TNB office after Aidilfitri, following a request from the state assemblyman to help customers and TNB together.
“We will continue with this programme, but with different methods and locations.
“During the meet the customer session, we can indirectly do a dialogue,” he said, adding that he was open to receiving feedbacks from customers.
