Consumers take to social media over inflated power bills in state

Many power consumers in the state took to social media to complain about inflated bills after distribution companies started meter-reading recently. However, power

Many power consumers in the state took to social media to complain about inflated bills after distribution companies started meter-reading recently. However, power companies have stated that there is no error and consumers are receiving bills as per actual consumption in the last two months.

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“Meter reading was discontinued in March-end, owing to which consumers were being sent bills as per average consumption of December, January and February. However, consumption was much more in the months of April and May owing to summer and the lockdown,” a senior official from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) said.

An MSEDCL consumer from Kharghar, Saurabh Marathe tweeted, “The bill appears to be inflated as our electricity consumption is not as high as ₹9,270. Our average bill every month is about ₹2,000. I request MSEDCL to look into the matter.” Another user stated that their average bill is ₹600 per month, but they have got a bill for ₹2,200 for May.

In Mumbai, Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML) and the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking have also started actual reading except in containment zones and sealed buildings. An AEML spokesperson said that electricity consumption normally increases from April till the onset of monsoon. BEST officials said that they are resuming meter reading as per staff availability.

“Both domestic consumers as well as commercial ones are straining under the huge power bills charged by electricity companies. The companies have sent bills for three months at a go, in many cases these charges have not been subtracted from the average bill charged monthly when the power companies were under a lock down. The state government needs to address this issue immediately. They should consider waiving off bills for consumption of 300 units or at least allow consumers to pay in instalments,’’ said former chief minister and leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis. Fadnavis has also written to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to address this issue.

MSEDCL had appealed to consumers to send actual reading during the lockdown. Of its 2.30 crore consumers, only 2.65 lakh sent readings, officials said. Consumers can also visit https://billcal.mahadiscom.in/consumerbill to get information on their bills.