TURA: Citizens of Tura were shocked after many were slapped with steep electricity bills by the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL ) leading to angry consumers demanding answers from the power department.
The issue began last week after electricity bills began turning up at consumer’s homes with a huge spike in the amount issued by the MeECL to customers.
Bills of many people that hovered around a couple of hundred rupees suddenly rose to over a thousand prompting many angry consumers to demand an explanation from the power corporation officials at Tura.
“Our electricity bills have never crossed Rs 500 even during peak winter months but this time we have been slapped with a bill of Rs 1200 by the electricity corporation without giving any valid reason for the huge rise,” an angry house owner from Tura bazaar lamented.
It has been found that power bill collectors have not ventured out to homes to undertake meter reading during the last two and a half months of lockdown citing the coronavirus situation.
“When I approached the MeECL officials to question why my bill has risen by more than five times, their explanation was that there was a fault in my meter which is totally a lie because they have been giving me bills based on the meter reading every time. Even if the meter had been defected, how do they justify the huge rise in the billing amount?” questioned a consumer from Beldarpara locality of Tura market whose power bill rose from Rs 399 (before the lockdown) to Rs 1850 during the lockdown.
Similar complaints have begun to appear in different areas of the town as the bills have started getting distributed to the consumers.
“The issue is not about someone unwilling to pay for a service used. The case is about how a consumer who has all along been paying his bill in a certain figure suddenly witnesses a skyrocketing of his dues without any scientific explanation,” complained another aggrieved power consumer.
As angry consumers demanded answers, the MeECL officials came up with the theory of faulty meters and asked the complainants to fill up a form to allow for inspection of their meters at home. But for this inspection too, consumers will have to pay Rs 60.