Inflated electricity bills worry Gurgaon’s Sector 56 residents

Residents in over 600 houses at Sector 56, who were previously issued electricity bills bi-monthly, have received combined bills of three months this time.

Residents of Sector 56 are worried over inflated electricity bills. The bills generated on August 3 have to be cleared by August 18 and if anyone fails to meet deadline, late fines will be imposed by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) in their next billing cycle.

The RWA of the sector wrote to senior DHBVN officials seeking their intervention in resolving the issue. The residents want to make payments at the earliest since inflated bills have appeared as major worry for them. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Sudhir Bhardwaj, president, residents’ welfare association (RWA) of Huda Sector 56, said, “Barely two days after the electricity bills were generated, word of inflated bills went viral and we received more than a hundred complaints from residents. While many house owners have received bills two to three times higher than normal, some claimed to have run up less than normal bill amounts as well. We have issued a circular to residents asking them not to pay bills unless the DHBVN officials revises them. The bill that I received is more than two times higher than the ones I got for the period between June and July last year.”

Residents in over 600 houses at Sector 56, who were previously issued electricity bills bi-monthly, have received combined bills of three months this time.

“The DHBVN changed the bill generation cycle from two months to three-and-a-half months in April. The new billing cycle pertains to the period from April 15 to July 31. The DHBVN has outsourced the meter reading and billing to a private company which has created all this mess,” Rahul Mehra, a resident, said, adding that his bill amount for the month of July is much less than what he had expected and fears an inflated bill in the next cycle.

The RWA of the sector wrote to senior DHBVN officials seeking their intervention in resolving the issue. The residents want to make payments at the earliest since inflated bills have appeared as major worry for them.

Sachin Yadav, executive engineer (EE), DHBVN, said, “We have received complaints of wrong meter reading and billing from Sector 56. We have asked residents not to panic. The bills will be rectified before due date. We are working on it and the concerned company has been asked to issue revised bills.”