TTEC disconnects employee from electricity

THE Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (TTEC) is being sued for disconnecting one of its own employees.

Kelvin Chaitram and his wife Minawatie, are contending in a pre-action protocol letter, that their three-apartment residential building in Penal was connected with an electricity supply in 2010. It was done via a transformer based on the required electricity load. However, in April 2015, Chaitram, who is employed with TTEC as a consumer investigator, said that he was contacted by an area manager who instructed him to rewire the building in order for it to be powered by one apartment meters, and not three.

In the letter sent by attorneys Shastri Parsad and Associates, it accused TTEC of entering onto Chaitram’s premises and disconnecting the electricity supply to the building.

This resulted in tenants being without water and electricity, added to their inability to utilise security lights and automatic gates. The tenants, the letter claimed, moved out the following month.

Chaitram contended that the apartments remained unoccupied for about a year, during which the borrowed money to rewire the building. It cost $62,000.

He further said that in July 2015, he was suspended from TTEC on the ground that he violated clause 8.1 of the commission’s Wiring for Light and Power. It states, “The commission shall provide only one service line to supply a building which shall be considered as any structure under one roof.” It further accused Chaitram of breaching the commission’s code of ethics and generation instructions.

Chaitram, however, won the case in the Industrial court in February 2018 and was reinstated.

Chaitram is seeking TTEC to pay him costs and damages.