After various Residents’ Welfare Associations met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit nearly 10 days ago to voice their grievances regarding the issue of inflated power bills, a flurry of probes are underway.

Discom BSES is studying every complaint lodged with it individually, while the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is conducting an independent probe into the 150-odd complaints it has received so far. Consumers have also filed complaints with the government’s Public Grievance Cell.

Reasons for the sudden surge in bills, however, continue to remain unclear. The DERC has also roped in the Standardization, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) directorate affiliated to the Ministry of Information Technology to conduct a detailed testing of the billing software used by BSES. In addition, the DERC has also requested the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), Hyderabad, to conduct independent tests on meters of consumers whose bills have shown a 50-per cent hike above average, provided those consumers have filed a complaint directly with DERC.

Consumers, meanwhile, continue to run from pillar to post to clear out the problem.

Newsline met a few peeved consumers.

Nanki Awathi Ramani
The 75-year-old retired assistant Income Tax commissioner is a resident of B-2 in Safdarjung Enclave. Ramani received a bill of Rs 23,000 for the month of August. Her average bills, during the corresponding period in the past few years, have ranged from Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,500.

“I wrote to the BSES about the issue. Their reply was most disappointing, as they saw absolutely no problem with my bill. I have now written to the Lieutenant-Governor and a few others. I absolutely refuse to pay this bill,” Ramani said.

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