Respected Sir,

Please accept our greetings from the Tamil Nadu Hotels Association.

At the outset, we sincerely appreciate the initiatives and the bold steps taken by your good self and your Government in dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic.

The South Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association , as you may be aware, was founded in 1955 . The association has diligently built on its rich legacy and is privileged to have played a seminal role in supporting the vibrant growth of Southern India Tourism Sector. SIHRA is the apex body of the Hospitality industry which includes hotels, restaurants, and associates, spanning the length and breadth of our vast South States. We are privileged to count most of the marquee Hotel and Restaurant chains as among our valued Members.

We are writing this to bring to your kind notice that the Electricity / Power bills are one of the major expenses for the Hospitality Industry (Hotels and Restaurants) and as such call for urgent attention of the State in providing timely relief as a means of effective measure to mitigate the current unprecedented crisis.

May we take the opportunity to humbly request to your good self and the Government to kindly issue the measures, directives to the DISCOMS which are as follows: –

1. Demand Charges for the Lockdown period should be totally waived off.
2. Load Factor Incentives should be calculated excluding the Lockdown days period.
3. Energy Charges should be charged on the basis of actual consumption units.
4. Average Bills may be issued only in case of non-availability of meter readings. Such bills should be appropriately corrected after getting meter readings of the concerned consumers.
5. Bill payment due date for March, April and May 2020 should be extended up to 30th June 2020 without any interest or delayed payment charges considering the current critical situation of the industries in the State.
6. Power Factor Penalty should be waived for this Lockdown period, as it is not possible to maintain it due to various compulsions & restrictions. Or alternatively last month’s PF i.e., February 2020 should be assumed.
7. No fixed charges for the period of closures.

In view of the fact that the revenues of the Hospitality Industry have now come to zero with mounting costs of maintenance of men, material and assets, it is imperative that the State Government and the concerned Departments offers some effective relief in terms of measures enumerated above.

Under these circumstances, we humbly pray to your kind self to issue appropriate directions to DISCOMS and all other departments/ licensees in the States for the implementation of our above-mentioned measures / steps at the earliest possible convenience to mitigate the situation arising out of the COVID 19 pandemic.

For this act of kindness, we shall ever remain obliged.

Thanking you and with regards,

Yours sincerely,

President
SIHRA