90-year-old Karnataka woman with just 3 bulbs in shanty house gets Rs 1L electricity bill

Even as the Congress government in Karnataka has announced the Griha Jyoti scheme, free power of up to 200 units to all households, a 90-year-old woman with just three bulbs at her shanty house has received a whopping Rs 1 lakh electricity bill.

The bizarre news is from Karnataka’s Bhagyanagar village in Koppal district. Even as the elderly woman, identified as Girijamma, has only three bulbs at her home, the electricity bill of Rs 1 lakh has left her stunned.

To add to her woes, Girijamma paid electricity bill of Rs 70-80 every month. However, all of a sudden, a notice of Rs 1.03 lakh bill from Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited (GESCOM) arrived at her residence.

“I have only three bulbs in the house, and my bills never cross Rs 80. But I have got Rs 1lakh bill this time,” she was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

Her plight came to the fore after a person shared her story on Twitter. Soon, the tweet went viral forcing GSECOM to respond and claiming that it was a mistake and it would rectify the issue.

Soon after, Power Minister KJ George revealed the erroneous bill was due to meter glitch. He also asked the elderly woman not to pay the huge amount.

Later, GESCOM officials rushed to her house and confirmed that she got the wrong bill due to the defunct power meter and said that she was not required to pay the bill.

This isn’t the first such case. Earlier this month, Sadashiva Acharya of Ullal had reportedly got a power bill of Rs 7 lakh from Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (MESCOM).