Recently there were reports in the newspapers about excess electricity bills received by consumers for the lockdown period. Some celebrities like Taapsee Pannu also complained about receiving Rs36,000 bill for the month of June 2020 which made headlines. Opposition parties also took up the issue with the state government.
Moneylife did some investigation into the matter to find out what had happened. After going through the public explanation given by distribution companies like Tata Power and Adani Electricity we found the following:
- As the lockdown was implemented on 24th of March and continued fully till 1 June 2020 no meter readings could be taken during the month of April, May and even in June, as meter readers could not go to the premises of consumers. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) vide their press note dated 29 June 2020 (available on its website) advised all power distribution companies (DISCOMs) to bill the consumers for March, April and May based on the average consumption for the earlier three months i.e. December 2019 and January and February 2020. As these are winter months the normal consumption during these months is generally low. The DISCOMs also advised consumers to send photographs of their actual meter readings on the billing cycle days so that they can be billed based on same. However, hardly any consumers did so as most commercial and industrial consumers could not access their meters and the residential consumers were not aware.
- March, April and May are summer months and electricity consumption during these months is generally much higher due to usage of high consumption equipments like fans, air coolers and air conditioners. As the families were at home 24x7 during this lock down period, the overall consumption was still higher than normal. Added to this was use of TVs, use of computers due to work from home and regular charging of mobile devices and gadgets. This resulted in more than normal usage of electricity for these months.
- When the lockdown was relaxed partially on 1st June, meter readings were taken by DISCOMs on specific days of the billing cycle. This included total consumption for the three months – March, April and May 2020. To avoid consumers getting overcharged due to higher tariffs for upper slabs, MERC suggested a formula by which the consumption of these three months was averaged out and in the bill for the month of June, only average units thus calculated were used for the month’s billing. To this amount, additional charges due to difference in the units billed in each earlier month and the average now calculated was added. These additional charges resulted in inflating the bills for the month of June which created furore among the consumers. As there was no communication from the DISCOMs to the consumers it resulted in misapprehension in the minds of consumers. (See below photo of a bill from Tata Power, showing the calculation)
- MERC has also given instructions to DISCOMs to set up helpdesks to educate the consumers about the billing process used and solve their queries about individual bills. Most DISCOMs have come out with explanation to consumers about the process used for billing either as notifications or audiovisual which can help consumers to understand the billing process used.
We are giving below extracts from the same. In addition, we are giving a table which shows the new tariffs applicable from 1 April 2020 so that consumers can check whether the correct tariffs are applied or not. It has been observed that the basic tariffs per unit have come down for all the DISCOMs for the year 2020-21. These tariffs are reduced in the range of 1% to 12%. The information is also available on its website under press note dated 30 March 2020.
(Source: MahaDiscom)
What we have noted in some cases is that when a consumer checks the number of units consumed, he generally calculates the slab-based energy charges. However, apart from this there are other charges like wheeling charges, fixed and demand charges, electricity duty, fuel charges (fuel charges are based on the usage of coal, and oil, and the default fuel is as per the licence. If due to some reason the company has to use other form of fuel, it may recover the difference from the consumers.), that vary along with the slab. These charges should also be added to arrive at the bill amount.
Based on this, the consumer who suspects that the bill is wrong should do a little calculation taking into consideration all the factors mentioned above before raising any complaint. This will save everyone’s time.
(Both Abhay Datar and AV Shenoy are senior consumer activists and guide consumers at Moneylife Foundation every Thursday. Both are also associated with Mumbai Grahak Panchayat)
