Bhubaneswar: A visually-challenged couple in Bhubaneswar woke up to a crude shock after they were handed an electricity bill of Rs 58 lakh. The visually-challenged couple, who reside in Panchagaon area under Airfield police limits in Bhubaneswar, are now in a state of panic after being charged such a huge amount despite being a domestic category consumer.
According to the bill furnished by the utility authorities to consumer Prasanna Kumar Nayak, Rs 58, 85,844 has been charged as pending dues for the past seven months.
Nayak’s brother Ajay, who works as a house-keeping staff at a local media house, informed that their electricity consumption is limited to use of two ceiling fans and four LED light bulbs. His brother’s family also doesn’t have any other electronic equipment like TV, refrigerator or washing machine.
“We had an old electricity meter and my brother used to get a bill of Rs 200 to 250 per month. In September 2019, we got a bill of Rs 18,560 and we had paid around Rs 9000 after the authorities allowed us some rebate,” said Ajay.
According to Ajay, the CESU authorities then had told to replace the meter in December last year and they did not receive a single electricity bill since January 2020.
“Yesterday, we got an electricity bill amounting to nearly Rs 58 lakh. How can our electricity bill be so high when the power consumption limited to just two fans and LED bulbs,” questioned Ajay.
“Our entire family is worried over the electricity bill as we are in no position to pay Rs 58 lakh. We will discuss the issue with local officials at Sunderpada and we will move the consumer court if no action is taken on our grievances,” Ajay added.
Tata Power has taken over the management of Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) of Odisha and is currently engaged in power distribution in several areas including Bhubaneswar.
The authorities of Tata Power could not be contacted for their comments on the matter.
(Edited By Bikram Keshari Jena)
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