Govt taking immediate action on incorrect electricity billing: UP Power Minister

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India]: With the aim of providing consumers with accurate electricity bills, the Yogi government is taking immediate action on complaints of incorrect billing, State Energy Minister AK Sharma informed the House on Wednesday.

Responding to a query regarding incorrect electricity billing raised by an opposition member at the state assembly through a written reply, Sharma said that consumers could now register complaints of incorrect bills on the official website of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. (UPPCL), or through assistance from the nearest departmental office.

Additionally, random checking of the billing process is also being carried out from time to time, he added.

Furthermore, arrangements have been made by the Sub-Divisional Officer/Executive Engineer’s office to rectify the wrong bills by taking prompt action upon receiving the wrong bills, he added.

In the written reply, AK Sharma explained that the Energy Department has implemented a system where officials visit consumers’ premises and use an Android-based billing app to take meter readings and provide bills on the spot.

Under this system, meter readings are downloaded using probes in downloadable meters, and bills are issued. If probe-based billing is not feasible, meter readers manually input the meter readings and issue bills through the billing app. After bill issuance, consumers are also informed of the bill details via SMS.

Furthermore, in collaboration with DISCOMs, a one percent random check of monthly billing is being carried out in the edited contracts with billing agencies. This checking is done by the supervisor of the billing agency, and an additional one percent random checking is provisioned to be conducted by DISCOM officials.

To address the issue of error-free billing, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. (UPPCL) is introducing several additional facilities. Under this initiative, a provision has been made to halt billing for bills exceeding Rs 10,000 per kilowatt per month and bills exceeding Rs 100,000 per kilowatt in total bill amount through the billing system. In such cases, error-free bills are issued only after consideration of the bill by the concerned Sub Divisional Officer/Executive Engineer (Distribution).

Additionally, the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) includes an active plan to replace current meters with prepaid smart meters. This initiative aims to resolve the issue of incorrect billing by ensuring the installation of prepaid smart meters.

In response to another question related to smart meters, the Energy Minister explained that smart meters are not generating bills for higher units.

“Smart meters calculate bills based on the actual energy consumption recorded in consumers’ electricity meters. As of now, out of a total of 1005 complaints regarding the swift operation of smart meters received from consumers, 961 smart meters were found to be functioning correctly upon investigation, and only 44 smart meters were changed immediately when they were identified to be operating at a high speed”, he said.

However, if a consumer has doubts about the recorded reading in an installed smart meter, they can request for a check meter to be placed alongside the smart meter to verify its operation. In the case of confirmed issues, within 15 days, the meter is replaced with a new meter, and the billing for the three months prior to the month of complaint is adjusted in the subsequent post-operative bill according to the final results, the Minister added.

The Minister also revealed that as of March 20, 2023, a total of 11.79 lakh smart meters have been installed in the state.

“From the inception of smart meter installation in June 2018 to March 20, 2023, a total of 72,846 complaints have been received related to smart meters, after which necessary changes were made to the meters.

Among these modified meters, 52,250 were identified as faulty, and 4,431 meters were changed due to other technical reasons”, he added.