THE EDITOR: I am the instructor at Davanand Samaroo Kung Fu School on Coffee Street, San Fernando. My three-storey commercial building is outfitted with three-phase meters and there are three businesses in full operations at this building.
After one of my meters burnt out I requested a new one from T&TEC in San Fernando. Then my troubles began. I was instructed to purchase a new pole to move the electrical connection from the building onto that pole. This seemingly simple process took four months to complete after having to go back and forth with T&TEC.
I made multiple visits to its office and recounted the same issue to multiple customer service representatives (CSRs) who gave me varying information. I had to acquire many different documents, some of which were not used. And I could not get consistent information from the CSRs.
When another meter burnt out in December 2022, the already dire situation became more dangerous as one meter was supplying electricity for three floors with three businesses.
Despite numerous complaints, I was not taken seriously. Appliances were damaged and the air conditioning could not be used for months, which put a strain on the businesses.
I suffered loss of income from not being able to operate at full capacity for months. I could only accommodate five people per class as opposed to 20. This meant that I lost out on my annual Carnival fitness camp which is the busiest time of the year. I also lost rental income as one tenant could not operate in the building for months.
I requested a supply letter which would allow for disconnection-reconnection so the meter box and cables could be upgraded appropriately. This pre-typed letter took 14 days to get to me.
I finally got an appointment on February 13 for disconnection-reconnection, but T&TEC sent the wrong truck to my premises and then informed me that I needed to reschedule since a bucket truck was not available, despite bucket trucks being seen in the San Fernando area. On raising my concerns at the T&TEC office, the appropriate truck arrived on my premises approximately eight minutes later.
I now discovered that an error had been made on the supply letter, making it invalid. This mistake was wrongly blamed on my electrician. Now the situation was even more dangerous as the meter box and cables are mounted and exposed without connection. This meant I had to overnight at the premises from the February 13 to 22 to ensure they were not stolen.
More problems arose when a CSR asked me for a document which I already gave to a manager on February 14. The manager took the original, gave me a copy and assured me it would be on file. However, when I visited after Carnival, another CSR again asked for the document and denied that I gave it to them as it “wasn’t in the file.”
I called again on February 22 to remind them of the supply letter despite this being their job. On many occasions I tried to pay for the disconnection-reconnection but I kept being delayed by the employees. After finally getting the meter boxes installed on February 27, I still had to wait for four days before I could receive my bill statements in order to make full payment.
My electrician, the inspectorate and attorneys cannot understand what the problem was. I feel targeted and victimised by some T&TEC employees.
After taking four months for the new pole to be accepted, it took an additional three months for the new meters to be installed and connected. Why was such a simple process dragged out for months, negatively affecting my business, my tenants, businesses, my students and myself?
To this day I have not been offered any answers by anyone in T&TEC.
DAVANAND SAMAROO
via e-mail