Senior Police Inspector Prakash George from the Bandra police station, who was one of the policemen trying to control the mob that had gone on a rampage at the Reliance Energy office at Vakola to protest power tariff hike, is now fighting his own case over inflated electricity bill.

George says he has been receiving exorbitant electricity bills for his Chembur home since March onwards, and has been sending complaints to Reliance Energy on the bills. “My electricity bill for has usually been between Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000. But, I was surprised to receive a bill of Rs 11,130 in March, after which I wrote to the Reliance Energy office at Chembur. I also asked them to send a representative to check if a defect in the electricity meter was causing higher bills,” said George. He said that though the Reliance Energy officials inspected the meter and installed a new one on April 20, he again received a bill of Rs 22, 270 the following month. He then received a bill of Rs 27,920 in May and another of Rs 21,000 for June.

“I have been continuously sending letters to the Reliance Energy officials to reassess the electricity bills but the bill amount goes on increasing every month. We have not had any new electrical equipment at the house or any extravagant use of electricity. They have sent replies claiming the meter is not faulty and is working within the prescribed units of accuracy. A few weeks ago, they even disconnected our electricity for a couple of days. I informed them that the billing issue was under discussion between me and the company and got the electricity restored,” said the senior police inspector.

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