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the incident has raised broader concerns about billing safeguards and the verification mechanisms in place to prevent consumers from being issued exorbitant and potentially distressing electricity bills While the revised bill has brought immediate relief to the Chakole family.
Nagpur: An exorbitant electricity bill of ₹1.44 lakh sent shockwaves through a Besa household in September, reigniting concerns over billing accuracy and meter readings at Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited ( MSEDCL ). The amount was later revised to around ₹13,800 after TOI raised the issue with the utility, but the family has questioned how a residential consumer could be issued such a massive bill in the first place, especially after receiving a similarly inflated bill of nearly ₹1.5 lakh just a month earlier. The consumer, Saransh Chakole, said his family was stunned when it received the September bill of ₹1,44,340 for their residence. The electricity connection, registered in the name of his father, Ramdas Chakole, is a residential LT-I single-phase connection with a sanctioned load of 1 kW. The family’s average monthly electricity bill is around ₹7,000, making the demand completely inexplicable, according to Chakole. Chakole said the family had received an electricity bill of nearly ₹1.5 lakh in the previous month as well, prompting him to approach MSEDCL and question the functioning of the smart meter installed. Electricity charges stood at ₹14,350 in August, ₹20,000 in July, ₹12,320 in May, ₹8,400 in April, ₹3,420 in March and ₹1,970 in February, underscoring the sharp disparity between historical consumption patterns and the disputed bills.
Another MSEDCL officer said such reading mismatches can sometimes be linked to technical issues such as faulty earthing. If such an issue persists, the consumer should check with the local MSEDCL office and get it repaired,” the official said. The latest bill was not an isolated instance. The family’s past payment records reflected significantly lower bills than the amounts recently generated. “If the earthing is not proper, then the electricity passed through it is also counted by the meter.