Gwalior consumer forum cancels estimated electricity bills:Forum orders power company to compensate customer after wrongly issuing two years of estimated bills

The Gwalior District Consumer Forum has cancelled all estimated electricity bills issued by the electricity company from March to September 2022. The forum said the company’s negligence was a “deficiency in service.” It also ordered the company to pay ₹1,500 to the consumer for mental distress and ₹1,000 for legal expenses. Impact of 8-year-old negligence on the consumer This case is related to Suman Dubey’s house. In 2014, her electricity meter was damaged due to high voltage. The consumer applied to replace the meter on September 15, 2014, but the electricity company replaced the meter only on December 6, 2019. Even after this, the consumer continued to receive estimated and incorrect bills for years. In 2022, the company issued a hefty bill of up to 3,01,139, citing excessive consumption of 30,067 to 32,072 units. Despite repeated complaints from the consumer, the company did not rectify the error, which led them to approach the forum. The Commission issued this order The forum rejected the electricity company’s arguments, stating that the company could not prove when the meter malfunctioned, how long it remained out of order, and on what basis the estimated bills were issued. According to the order, all estimated bills for two years (November 22, 2020, to September 2022) were cancelled. Instructions were given to prepare a revised bill for the entire period based on the actual meter reading of 32,072 units from September 2022. Along with this, all amounts previously deposited by the consumer were asked to be adjusted in the new bill. Company’s arguments failed The company stated that the consumer could not provide any concrete evidence of a faulty meter, and after the meter was replaced in 2019, the bill was issued based on actual readings in 2022. However, the commission held that the company could not clarify which calculation method was adopted in the process of the meter malfunctioning and issuing estimated bills.