Inflated electricity bills worry Gurgaon residents

The bills are, in many cases, five to seven times higher than the average that the consumers get every two months.

Residents are running from pillar to post to get inflated electricity bills corrected ahead of the due date in order to make payment on time.

Sources said the DHBVN sent inflated electricity bills to around over 400 residents of Sector 56 two months ago and later accepted its error and blamed the outsourced agency for calculating bills incorrectly. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo for representation)

Complaints of inflated electricity bills continue to pour in at the office of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) from across the city. The bills are, in many cases, five to seven times higher than the average that the consumers get every two months.

Dr BC Saini, 77, a resident of DLF-1, said, “I am too old to walk to the DHBVN office and stand in queue for hours to get my electricity bill corrected, but I had to do just that since I got a bill of Rs85,000 for September and October. My average monthly bill is Rs10,000 - Rs12,000 and a bill of Rs85,000 worried me a lot. I spoke to DHBVN engineers and I was shocked at their replies.”

“They said it was the fault of the meter reading company outsourced by the DHBVN. Why should I waste my time, energy and money due to their fault? I am a senior citizen and I cannot afford to stand in line for an entire day. DHBVN officials corrected my bill and it was reduced to Rs25,000,” he said.

Sources said the DHBVN sent inflated electricity bills to around over 400 residents of Sector 56 two months ago and later accepted its error and blamed the outsourced agency for calculating bills incorrectly.

“We have received complaints (of inflated bills) and resolved them. We did not turn down any consumer who complained of inflated bills, if they were genuine cases,” said Sanjiv Chopra, chief engineer (CE), DHBVN.