MERC to investigate discrepancies in Mumbai electricity bills

Many in Mumbai and adjoining areas have received an exorbitant electricity bill for the month of June and complained about it. A PIL on the issue has been filed in the  Bombay High Court.  While power companies are looking into this issue, sources say that MERC (Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission) is also investigating if any discrepancies or wrongful tabulation have occurred in some cases.

"We have received 2.1 lakh complaints from Mumbai and adjoining areas. We have tasked an internal panel to investigate if there have been any discrepancies in the billing. Some errors have been found in tabulating 3-month data as 1-month data and in some cases, there are percentage errors. One a case to case basis we are trying to rectify it," said a senior MERC source.

CNBC-TV18 has also learnt that MERC will be coordinating with the four power companies in Mumbai and surrounding regions and will be getting daily updates from the consumer redressal forums.

This is contrary to the statement given by the regulator on June 29. In its statement earlier MERC had said that it had conducted a detailed review of the matter with the heads of all four power companies, Adani Electricity, Tata Power, MSEDCL, BEST, and outlined why the bills were okay.

MERC has given time to consumers to pay the amount in instalments. In its statement, it clarified, "During the lockdown period, bills were raised on average consumption of three months prior to March 2020 which being winter months, the consumption is invariably low and therefore average bills were of a lower amount. The present bills raised on actual meter readings are of the summer months where the consumption is normally high and the bills are always of higher amounts. Hence the balance amount payable after adjusting the average bill amounts for each of the three months March, April and May have led to a higher bill that was issued in June. 9."

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MERC has taken note of measures being taken by the utilities to redress consumer grievances and directed the utilities to further enhance the transparency and set up a robust monitoring mechanism to ensure that the specific grievances of consumers are promptly responded.