I thought i'd just share this lesson i learnt yesterday. I have a condo unit which is being rented out to an Arab student (with his family). He's a very kind guy and the nicest tenant i've ever had, though at first i did have doubts (after hearing stories about Middle Easterns). I guess i'm one of the lucky few!
One of the things that i occasionally do is to login to TNB's e-service webpage to just check on the status of the electricity bills for units that i have rented out. So i so happen to check this particular unit, and to my shock, his latest electricity bill came to be RM 2,400. His usual bills are normally about RM 30 or so. So a natural reaction would be to call TNB to demand for an explanation (at this juncture, my tenant has not known about his electricity bill yet).
TNB explained that the bills for the past 7 months (since May) are all 'estimated' bills. I asked how could it be estimated, since this is a condo and they would have access to the electricity meter. Standard answer by the clerk (i don't blame her) is 'Maaf Encik, saya cuma membaca apa yang tertera pada sistem'.
In the end, the bill is what it is. Because the past 7 months bills were estimated, and thus he was under billed, rightfully TNB could recoup this under billing and bill him this month when they did an actual reading (Apparently there is some Akta that covers this in the contract agreement we signed with TNB when purchasing a property and applying for power connection). His average bill is supposed to be about the region of RM 300 a month, so that is actually about right for 7 months accumulation.
The questions i have for TNB:
1. I noticed that there has been an increase in rate sometime in August. But the under billing was from the old rate. Now when you do a catch up bill, it is at a new rate. Isn't that unfair, because customer is billed at a new rate, when the electricity was at an old rate.
2. TNB should not have let an estimated bill be more than 2 to 3 months at max. Leaving it for 7 months is a great burden to consumers. And now you expect for a one lump sum payment of 7 months catch up bill, when it was TNB's fault at first for not doing an actual reading?
3. When TNB does current reading, they take the difference between the old meter reading and today. So in this case, there is a delta of 5000 units for example. And this 5000 units is spread out against the different bands of today's rate, and a higher band (as the units increase) incurs higher rate. So isn't it unfair to consumers to have to pay higher, because if the proper reading were taken before, an average electricity movement per month is probably about 700 units, and would be on the lower band, thus lower electricity charge if i were to accumulate each bill individually.
In the end the electricity was consumed by my tenant, and he still has to pay for it. But through no fault of his, he is now being burdened with a one lump sum bill, and risk getting a power cut because of what i perceive as TNB's ineffectiveness in getting a proper reading. Why it was an estimated bill for 7 months, we'll never know i guess, though logically it should not have been.
Probably you guys should check your bills, and if the bill is pretty low compared to what you normally use, it is worth while to double check. Otherwise be prepared for surprises.
9 comments:
I had experience the same last raya. It's stealing ppl's money!
No wonder how TNB can afford to increase Che Khalib from 50k to 100k!
I just read in the news today, TNB apply nak naikkan bil letrik, awaiting cabinet approval.
Below is Tenaga net profit and gross dividend from year 2004
Net Profit (Group) RM Million Dividend Gross Sen
Year Net Profit Gross Div. (sen)
2004 813.70 18.20
2005 1280.00 16.20
2006 2126.90 14.80
2007 4061.10 36.30
2008 2594.00 20.00
and i heard they have 7 layer of supplier chain. ripping ppl money for themselves....
adzimi, kalau u insist to mengamuk and bring to tribunal (due to the resons you just mentioned) I expect them to give discount/appropriate charge. thats what SYABAS will do, just to avoid tribunal.
Good info.Thanks Naz.
You mean tribunal pengguna la kan? But how to do that? Any address, tel, etc?
MY, tak ingat, kena google TTPM.
My suggestion is to first mengamuk via countless letter and threaten to file in TTPM.
After a while if they ignore, then file.
OMG, qst time aku dgr dr kawan aku sendiri, sblm ni ada dgr2 aje, but i do agree with you, patutnya tnb buat stime 2,3 bln the most. gila kalau kena ribu, sebln gaji byar electric bill aje la, by the way, kenapa estime yea, pelik jugak setahu aku kebykan meter sekarang dah ada kat luar, kira easy access la, kecuali rumah tu jenis lama, meter kat dlm ada anjing plk kat luar, lain la cite
Ok some update on this. Went to TNB last Friday with my tenant to seek further explanation. Unfortunately mamat kat kaunter as much as he tried to be helpful, he is powerless to do anything further other than provide us the email address to file our complain.
As for my argument for point 1, the rate is billed based on the average units taken for the last 7 months i.e. 6000 units divide by 7. So from there they derive the 'new' rate. Apparently if your bill is higher than 500 units (500 units is about 100 ringgit), there is a different rate for you. Did you know that?? So again this can still be argued because for one of the month, my tenant was away for more than 2 weeks.
Point 3, the bands were stretched further when they bill him, so after further explanation i am satisfied that this is fair. Which leaves point 2, which still remains a question. Because it is a condo, if the reading is estimated because of alasan 'Pintu berkunci' so theoretically, all the condos on the same floor would have the same scenario right (because all the meters sits in the same TNB room), but that was not the case, the others receive their bills just fine. So like what Naz suggested, i will be writing to them and asking for discounts. Yup i am aware of Consumer Tribunal, pernah menang kes kat situ dulu, so that would be the last resort if i have to. Thanks all for your support.
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