Power bill shocker: Pay 3,81,571 only!

HYDERABAD: She was least prepared to handle the Tuesday morning shocker. A monstrous electricity bill of 3,81,571 was issued to D Swarupa, a resident of Srinivasanagar in Boduppal, for consumption of 40,059 units of power. Obviously, Swarupa was stumped by this staggering bill and had to clear the payment by June 24.
The billing was done for 32 days - from May 9 to June 10 - on the basis of 40,059 units consumed. Energy charges levied was 3,79,087, while an additional charge of 2,403 was towards electricity duty and the due date was June 24.

Telangana State Southern Power Discom Company Ltd officials themselves were in for a shock when the harried consumer brought the monster bill to their notice in the afternoon. When contacted, a senior official told TOI that there had been a mistake in generating the bill. He said a staff member was sent to the house again to check the meter reading. "We issued a new bill for 134. It was noticed that only 63 units was consumed," the official said.

He said there was a mistake in typing out the actual meter reading. A staff at the control room agreed it was well nigh impossible for a domestic consumer to receive a bill for 3.81 lakh. "There was a mistake in keying in the number of units consumed and therefore the huge bill was generated," the official added.

Not just Swarupa, B Anand Kumar, a resident of Nizampet, received a bill-cum-notice for 4,517 with the due date for payment being June 24. In the bill, the units consumed was shown as 600 for 30 days between May 11 and June 11. Later, it was found that the units consumed were only 143 for 31 days and the bill amount was revised to 573.