Inflated bills: CM asks power dept for immediate redressal

Flooded with complaints regarding inflated bills, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has directed the power department to address the issue.

Flooded with complaints regarding inflated bills, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has directed the power department to address the issue.

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According to sources, Dikshit has asked the distribution companies to examine their billing system as a number of people have complained about inflated bills.

"People should not be overcharged. Power Minister Haroon Yusuf has been instructed to examine the issue seriously. I told him to take steps after discussing the issue with Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) and discoms," said Dikshit.

The issue of inflated bills was discussed at length in the cabinet meeting held on Monday.

"If consumers are being overcharged, then discoms will have to make their billing system right. If somebody has received wrong bills due to carelessness of discoms, then follow up action will have to be taken," Dikshit told the reporters.

Power department has directed the distribution companies to look into the complaints and adjust the excess amount with the next month's bills.

According to sources, Dikshit was not happy with the way power department had been handling the issue and strictly told the power minister to take up the matter with the discoms.

A number of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) complained of inflated power bills and some of them have even threatened not to pay them.

Power tariff for domestic consumers was hiked by a steep 26% in June. The new tariff came into effect from July 1. The Delhi government has also chalked out a power plan to meet the demand for next year's summer season.

In addition to this, Uttar Pradesh (UP) has provided land to Transco Limited to construct six towers for the Maharani Bagh-Ghazipur line.

"We are thankful to UP for understanding our problem as there was no alternative. Now the transmission lines will be completed by February next year and it will provide uninterrupted power to east Delhi," said Haroon Yusuf.