As the outrage over huge electricity bills refuses to stop, the officials of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited have come forward with a rationale behind the huge spike in bills.
Mahendra Jain, the Additional Chief Secretary of BESCOM justified the jump in bills as he said,
“Even though the bill is issued for March and April 2020 months’ consumption together, the total units have been proportionately apportioned for 2 months, units have been doubled starting from the lowest slab.”
The residents of the city were shocked when they were issued the electricity bills as the bills touched the sky. Some of them even witnessed a 16 fold jump in their electricity bill. A resident of Hennur was baffled to get a bill of Rs. 16,267 for two months. The resident pointed out that the house had remained unoccupied for the two months and the bills for the month of January and February hadn’t crossed 600 rupees.
Noel Vikas, a resident of Kormangala, alleged that he received a bill that amounted 5 times more than the usual electricity bill. He said,
“While my average electricity bill amounts to Rs. 1200 per month, I was shocked to see I was charged Rs. 6415 for the months of March and April. This is excluding the bill amount of Rs. 1145 that I had already paid online last month. BESCOM should clarify the matter and reissue error-free bills at the earliest.”
Officials say Work from home is the reason, asks customers to cross-check
However, the officials have justified the higher bills was because of people staying at home and even working from home during the lockdown. The MD of BESCOM Rajesh Gowda said since the customers are working from home, there is extra usage of fans, air conditioners, and other home appliances. He also added that higher slab rates and increased consumption has led to higher bills. Later, BESCOM issued a statement that states,
“Consumers are requested to cross-check the previous and present month meter reading and if any variation in slab wise calculation or having any other grievance/queries in May 2020 bills shall contact Local Sub-division office (contact details available in BESCOM website www.bescom.org) or BESCOM 1912 helpline and make the payment.”
Further, Rajesh Gowda said that those with grievances after cross-checking can facilitate the second round of reading. He explained,
“This can be done by meter readers or consumers as one can furnish the self-reading through SMS/Whatsapp to the sub-division office concerned, or dial 24×7 helpline number 1912 and obtain revised bills as per the actuals.”
Source: The Indian Express
