Late TNB bills due to delay in posting

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THE days of late Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) bills in Balakong will soon be over as the utility giant is looking into ways to resolve the problem.

When a group of Balakong residents paid a visit to the new TNB Station in Cheras Perdana recently, they learnt that their bills were probably late because of a delay in the posting dates.

A TNB spokesman said bills posted to consumers bore the accurate amount of electricity consumed as opposed to the bills with estimates which they might have received if on-the-spot readings could not be obtained.

He further informed Balakong assemblyman Yap Lum Chin and Kajang Municipal councillor Lee Ah Seng, who led the group, that TNB was in the midst of expanding its on-site repair team to resolve supply-related complaints in a timely manner.

“Our team is currently limited to three personnel and it usually takes up to three days to address some of the common problems highlighted to us, like faulty streetlights and missing cables. By beefing up our team, we hope to shorten the response time,” he said.

In addition, the group learnt that the station was newly opened to handle some 120,000 consumer accounts. Previously, the Balakong accounts were placed under the Bangi station that handles a total of 380,000 accounts.

On requests for extra streetlights to be installed in Balakong in an effort to curb crime in the area, TNB said if the existing bills for, say, a particular stretch of streetlights were paid by the council, the matter ought to be brought to the council’s attention.

“If TNB is responsible for the area, applications for extra streetlights will be processed within two weeks and a RM10 fee will be charged in the subsequent bill,” the spokesman said.

A few factory owners in the group highlighted the matter of tenants vacating the rented premises without settling TNB bills and leaving owners saddled with huge bills, some amounting to RM20,000.

The owners were told to instruct tenants to sign an agreement with TNB so that if the bills remained unpaid after the tenants left, TNB would not penalise the owners.