Gurgaon: Several residents of Sector 5 said they had received inflated power bills after smart meters were installed by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam. While some alleged they had been handed bills even though their house was locked for the past two months, others claimed they had received the bill for the whole year.
Aruna Bansal, a resident of Sector 5, was shocked to have received a bill of Rs 49,711, which was calculated from February 2020 to February 2021. “But I have been paying the bills on time every month. I don’t know on what basis they have calculated the meter readings. I had paid my last bill of Rs 22,000 on December 31. The last time too, I had approached the electricity department to look into my case as the bill was inflated. Then, they had asked me to deposit the bill and assured me that the extra amount would be adjusted the next time,” she said.
“Every billing month, we receive complaints from residents about inflated bills. What is of more concern is that there is a delay in generating the bills. How can the electricity department expect us to run every time to Sector 14 to rectify the bills and make the payment without defaulting? One of the residents had received a bill of around Rs 13,000 although his house was vacant for the past few months,” said Dinesh Vashisht, RWA president of sectors 3,5 and 6.
DHBVN executive engineer Hoshiyaar Singh said, “I have not received the complaints so far. If there are any error, it would be rectified soon.”