Elderly gets ₹79L power bill, DHBVN corrects ‘mistake’

Two months after an 82-year-old resident of Sector 14 was issued an electricity bill of ₹79 lakh, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has admitted that the bill was inflated and initiated remedial action. They said this bill has been rectified in their system and assured that the consumer would receive a hard copy by Friday at the latest.

The inflated bill corresponds to the months of May and June, the payment for which was due by August 9.

SS Hans, who received the inflated bill, said he was shocked to see the bill amount and that it took his wife two months of standing in queues and doggedly meeting DHBVN officials to get the bill revised.

“Our average bill ranges between ₹15,000 and ₹17,000. We had never received such an erratic bill,” Hans said.

“The DHBVN officials told my wife that our old electricity meter was replaced with a new one about a year ago. They said this was supposed to be updated in the DHBVN’s system, but it did not happen for some unexplained reason and this had caused a fault in the meter reading. They admitted it was an erratic/incorrect bill and will be rectified,” he said.

Hans, however, said he was worried as the payment due date was just a week away and he was yet to receive a copy of the corrected bill.

“Only a week to go till the payment due date expires on September 24. On Monday, we received a message from the department (DHBVN) that our bill has been rectified. But, we are yet to receive the (corrected) electricity bill,” Hans said.

DHBVN superintending engineer KC Aggarwal said, “It was a mistake in the computer system and has been rectified, but it will take a day or two more (for them to receive the bill). The issue was brought to my notice four days ago and I sent a staffer to Hisar to get the bill corrected. The consumer will receive the revised bill latest by Friday. I will initiate action against the employee concerned for not updating metre replacement information on the system by Friday as well.”