Faulty meters could be behind fat Delhi power bills

If you have been receiving inflated electricity bills, possibly a faulty meter is to blame. There has been almost a 120 to 500% increase in the number of meter complaints.

If you have been receiving inflated electricity bills, possibly a faulty meter is to blame. There has been almost a 120 to 500% increase in the number of meter complaints.

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But discoms have claimed that only a small percentage of the complaints received about meters relate to fast meters. The other complaints are about broken, damaged and tampered meters.

“If a consumer has a concern with a meter, we have it checked for accuracy from accredited labs. At times, we also install a ‘check’ meter for a short time, alongside a consumer’s existing meter,” a BSES official said.

In east and central Delhi areas, serviced by BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, the number of complaints related to ‘faulty’ meters has risen to 11,847 in 2012 compared to just 2,397 in 2011.

For south and west Delhi, under BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd, the number has increased from 10,005 to 22,958, while in north Delhi, serviced by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, there were 23,516 complaints against 28,477 in 2011.

“Our study found that meters are running faster by 25 to 40%. We asked discoms to tell us about the exact number of units supplied to a distribution transformer and the exact number of units billed from connections from the transformer. But there is no response since 2009,” said Rajiv Kakaria, member of NGO Chetna.