SHILLONG: A major discrepancy has come to the fore in the new system of spot billing introduced by the Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Limited (MeECL) from this month.
The MeECL has introduced this new system in some localities of the city namely Nongthymmai, Pohkseh and Malki.
Several customers from these three localities have complained that their electricity bill has shot up abnormally after the introduction of this system.
Even though the latest billing is for 64 days, the customers feel that the increase is more than 50 times which is totally unjustified.
While questioning the latest system, Nongthymmai UDP legislator Jemino Mawthoh said that he also received complaints from several people of his constituency about the abnormal increase.
While citing an example of a consumer, he said that the customer who used to receive a bill between Rs 70 to Rs 80 every month received a bill of Rs 2568 for June and July after the introduction of spot billing system.
“I cannot understand why there is such a huge increase,” Mawthoh said.
He said that the customers are in dilemma since the last date of payment of the bill is August 5.
According to Mawthoh, some customers complained about the clarity of the paper foil which was issued as bill.
“I was informed that it is difficult to identify the numbers mentioned in the paper foils,” Nongthymmai UDP legislator said.
He said that he would personally take up the matter with the MeECL officials at the earliest.
When contacted, a senior MeECL official said that the corporation has introduced this new system of spot billing for the benefit of the customers.
“In the earlier system, there was a gap of at least 15 days when the electricity bills were dispatched to the customers after the meter reading was done. With this new billing system, the electricity bills are immediately issued to the customers on the spot after the meter reading is done,” he said.
A senior MeECL official said that the customer can immediately lodge a complaint if they find that there is some problem in the billing system.
“The problem can be rectified without any delay under this new system,” he said.
A senior official said customers should personally lodge their complaint in their respective circles if they find any abnormal increase in the bill amount.
“So far we have not received any complaint from any of the customers,” he said.
Meanwhile, a senior official revealed that the MeECL will soon introduce this new spot billing system in various localities of Shillong and also in towns across the State.