TN Electricity Board Doesn’t Charge More Rates From Temples Than Mosques and Churches…

A post is being widely circulated on social media that claims TNEB charges more money for electricity from temples and less money from churches and mosques. These claims have been circulating on Twitter and Facebook since the middle of the month of May. You can see an example of such tweets and Facebook posts below:

View Original Tweet here – Twitter |Archived Link

In the tweet given above, the Twitter user claims that while Churches and Mosques are charged Rs. 2.85 per unit of electricity by TNEB, TN Temples have to pay Rs. 8 per unit. The user equates this with the recent demolitions and the Hijab controversy in the country. We found a similar post on Facebook making the same allegation of minority appeasement.

Facebook

Archived Link

However, when we investigated this claim, we found that the claim made through these posts are false. We found that the state doesn’t charge different electricity tariffs from temples which are more than what it charges from places of worship of other religions. Here’s the truth.

Fact Check

While investigating the claim, we realized that these claims are not new. Even in the past, similar allegations were made on TN government. Our Tamil team had debunked this claim back in 2020, when AIADMK was in power in Tamil Nadu. You can read the fact check in Tamil by clicking the link given below:

Read in Tamil | இந்து கோயில்களுக்கு மின் கட்டணம் வசூலிப்பதில் பாரபட்சம் எனக் கூறி பரவும் வதந்தி…

In response to an RTI petition filed by a Hindu Mahasabha activist Ramesh in 2019, TANGEDCO said the following:

1. Hindu religious and charitable endowments controlled temples
2. Hindu religious and charitable endowments supervised temples
3. Mosques and Islamic place of worship
4. Christian church and worship place

For all the above-mentioned religious places of worship, Electricity board charges Rs. 2.85 per unit for 0-120 units consumed. When the units consumed by the above places are more than 120 units, the rate per unit is Rs. 5.85. Commercial rates apply to privately owned temples. The commercial electricity rates are Rs. 5 for 0-100 units and Rs. 8.05 for consumption of units greater than 100.

Our team had spoken to Mr. Mannivanan Raman, Senior Engineer at TNEB, Salem Division who refuted these claims and explained, “Some people are deliberately spreading these baseless rumors on social media.  Public places of worship irrespective of the religion are charged equally. However, private establishments that apply for a commercial supply of electricity are charged commercial rates. I urge everyone not spread false rumors about TN government charging discriminatory rates from Hindu temples.”

The tariffs are available on TNEB’s website as well. The tariffs given on the website also don’t mention different rates for Hindu temples. 

TANGEDCO

Conclusion

From our investigation, it is clear that there are no different electricity rates for temples as compared to mosques or churches. All places of worship irrespective of the religion they are associated with are charged with same tariffs.