Staying at home during the lockdown appears to be coming at a cost for residents of Mumbai Metropolitan Region as many of them have been slapped with inflated electricity bills for the usage in May-June 2020.
Taking their grievances to twitter, many residents have expressed anger against MSEDCL (Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company), Tata Power and Adani Electricity, alleging that the power discoms have sent unusually high power bills with inaccurate meter readings.
The electricity bills of the residents for the May-June usage are said to be more than double the amount they have paid for previous months during the summer.
A twitter user Saurabh Marathe @ImSo45 wrote, "The bill appears to be inflated as I know for certain that our consumption of electricity is not as high as Rs 9,270 to warrant such high bill. Our average bill every month is around Rs 2,000. I request you to please look into the matter."
https://twitter.com/ImSo45/status/1273836398156509190
Another twitter user, Nikita Gaurkar @GaurkarNikita wrote to MSEDCL, "Sir, we have received a bill of Rs 21,990 for month of May-June usage. This is totally shocking & ridiculous billing for our 1RK house with only one AC flat. On average we always get Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500 bill for 450 to 500 unit consumption. Please look into this."
https://twitter.com/GaurkarNikita/status/1276105972541341696
Thane resident, Sindhu Santosh Patil complained that her bill for May-June was Rs 990, double the bill amount she paid for April-May and the electricity consumption also for current billing cycle has inflated to 293 units which on an average ranges between 70-100 units per month.
Mamta Dubey, resident of Dombivli, has she received a bill of Rs 3,500 for May-June as compared to Rs 1,100 and Rs 2,300 for April and May respectively. Dubey said no person from MSEDCL came to take the meter readings and the state power discom has sent unusually high electricity bill with inaccurate meter readings through text message.
Responding to the complaints and queries of consumers, MSEDCL in a news release present on its website, stated that during the period of lockdown, no meter readings happened and thus consumers received their electricity bills on an average basis. "However, now the meter readers have started visiting residential areas to take actual readings. Therefore, bill amounts will be higher."
Also, MSEDCL has provided a link (https://billcal.mahadiscom.in/consumerbill/) for its consumers to verify the electricity bills they received.
Tata Power on twitter said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MERC (Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission) issued directives to continue to bill the consumers during the lockdown period, on the estimated basis of the last month consumption (i.e. February/March 2020).
"Post unlock 1.0, we have resumed meter reading activity and bills are being generated based on actual readings. The final bill is raised after adjusting consumption and bill amount as per the estimated bills raised in the interim period."
https://twitter.com/TataPower/status/1276151906281422850
Adani Electricity, however, in a statement issued by them, shifted the onus back on consumers saying due to the lockdown, as most consumers were working from home, the consumption of power had increased even more.
An AEML spokesperson said, "Actual consumption in the months of April, May and June is comparatively higher due to seasonal impact (summer) and increased usage (advent of Lockdown/WFH)."
Residents across various parts of Mumbai Metropolitan Region have reportedly staged protests outside the offices of power discoms demanding for a correction in their electricity bills and waiver of interest.
First Published: Jun 27, 2020 5:47 PM IST
