Coming out clean on the charges of overcharging Mumbaikars, senior officials of Adani Electricity said they have resolved about 46,000 complaints of inflated power bills. Out of 48,000 complaints that were received, meter verification will take place for about 2,100 meters, rest of the customers were satisfied with the clarifications.
“The issue is more about communication than of inflated bills. Once we were able to explain our customers how it was calculated, most complaints got resolved and customers paid the bill,” said Kandarp Patel, CEO, Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited. The utility company clarified that they supply to 25 lakh customers in Mumbai, hence, it received a reaction from customers after they received the bills.
AEML clarified that as per Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) instructions they had billed customers for March, April and May on the average consumption of the previous three months – December, January and February. As the consumption in winter months is 33 per cent less the average bills during lockdown were lower. When the meter readings were taken, these bills were higher as it was summer and people were working from home.
On tweets by celebrities, the power distribution company clarified that issues were addressed and calculations were explained to them by company’s executives.
“Arshad Warsi’s comments were personal and defamatory. We tweeted a bill copy of April 2019. He deleted it later. He has four connections with us, two of commercial and two residential. Bills for his commercial premises are lesser, he didn’t consider this fact. This shows he highlighted the issue without understanding. We reserve the right to take legal action against him,” Patel said.
“In case of actress Taapsee Pannu she had said no one stays in of her apartments. As it turned out her other house was occupied occasionally and hence billed,” he added.
The company officials said that about 5.3 lakh customers have not paid bills in last 30 days and the company is due to receive Rs 750 crore from customers. They said that for 94 per cent of the customers, bills are now being sent as per meter readings. Talks are on with local authorities to allow meter readings to take place in red zones, they said.
Commenting on how customer complaints are being resolved, Patel said, “150 call centre executives and 50 officials are addressing complaints. Executives are speaking with customers via video call at company’s help desk and through helplines.”
