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Goregaon resident Debdeep Banerjee was used to spending an average of Rs 3,000 every month for electricity. But he was shocked when he received the bill for October. It was double the usual amount he used to pay.
Like Debdeep, the Mumbaikars who subscribe to Adani Electricity have been fuming over the sharp spike in their electricity bills in September and October.
Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) took over power distribution from Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) in September, the same month the residents noticed a spike in their bills.
People took to social media with copies of their bills to highlight the steep hike in the rates.
Andheri resident Prashant Jha said he wrote to Adani Electricity, which then sent an engineer to his residence. Jha has alleged that his latest bill was triple of the usual amount even though he was travelling for three weeks around October.
Responding to The Quint’s queries about the reason for the sudden hike in rates, an AEML spokesperson said the hikes had “no correlation with Adani taking over” the distribution, and its tariff rates were approved by state power regulator Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).
AEML also attributed the increase in electricity bill to higher consumption in October.
But some residents claimed that they are yet to receive answers for their steep electricity bills. Despite visiting the AEML office, Activist Maqsood Alam said he is yet to receive a solution as paying such expensive bills was not an option for him.
“Earlier my electricity bills used to be anywhere around Rs 1,400-Rs 1,600. My latest bill, however, has come up to Rs 4,000. They have suddenly increased the rate. They should have informed us before increasing the rates. Even when we enquire, they don’t tell us anything. They ask us to go upstairs to the first floor and enquire. When you go to the first floor, they ask you to go to the second floor, then the third, etc. When you reach the main person, he says, this order is from the higher authorities. But who will give us a solution,” asks Alam.
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