Indane releases new connections, plans hike in service charges

By N. Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI, SEPT. 14. It is mixed news for cooking gas consumers in the city. While Indane, the market leader in the segment, has resumed release of new connections, the service charges levied on consumers by the industry is set for a hike.

Indane, which suspended release of new domestic cooking gas connections late June has started issuing them in the last two days.

Following this, wait-list are being cleared by the city distributors. In the interim period, one new booking daily was made. The release of connections, with two cylinders, now signifies the comfort level of Indane with regard to the equipment (empty cylinders) availability. The company had stopped the release presumably due to a shortfall in the equipment availability.

The joy of this development, however, could be short- lived as the service charges levied by the oil industry is likely to rise by Rs.5.

Already, Bharatgas has started levying the new rates, from September 1. After the revision, Rs.25 is to be charged for a mechanic's visit, for other than leakage calls, as against Rs.20 earlier.

For installation of new connection, it is Rs.15 now, while the administrative charges for release of double bottle connection is Rs.15. It will be Rs.25 for mandatory inspection, Rs.15 for supply of domestic gas consumer card (DGCC) and the same towards administrative charges for seeking confirmation of transfer voucher.

The charge for inspection of hot plate at the time of release of connection at the customer's premises, however, remains at Rs.100. In fact, the distributors have been demanding that the charge should be increased to Rs.300 as it would then curb the tendency of a few in the trade to prevail upon the customers to purchase a hot plate (cooking gas stove).

Since the service charges are uniform for the industry, a hike by other oil companies appears imminent.

Viewed against the customer-friendly initiatives taken by the oil companies including introduction of many value-added features, the increase in the charges runs contrary, distributors feel. Opposing it, they say the time is not far off when parallel cooking gas marketers will make a hard-sell of the product by offering services free of cost.

There are also distributors who justify the hike, saying that it will compensate to a large extent their expenditure on stationery. Moreover for distributors with a limited customer- base, the service charges are one source of revenue.

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Section  : Southern States
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