City consumers in a state of ‘shock’ over inflated power bills

Jaipur: While the of poor electricity supply and power cuts were not enough to deal with past one month, the people have now been thrown to an unprecedented situation. Despite rebate, residents of the state capital raised the concern over sudden inflated electricity bill of Jaipur Vidut Vitran Nigam Ltd (JVVNL).
The state government provides rebate on electricity bills up to 100 units to those who have registered under the Jan Aadhar Scheme.Only domestic households connections are eligible for free electricity under Chief Minister Free Electricity Scheme of Rajasthan. Commercial connection holders are not eligible under this scheme. Those consumers who consumes more than 100 units of electricity per month are eligible to get subsidy under this scheme. The Jan Aadhar scheme was introduced earlier this year.
Mahendra Saini, a resident of Chandpole skipped a heartbeat when a mounting bill of RS 60,869 landed on his doorstep. In June he had paid around Rs 6,000 which included amount of May as well. "In middle of August I received this unexpected bill amount. I have no clue how come it can be so high, neither I have any pending amount. No one had come to take meter reading and despite raising the issue the power department officials were reluctant to may heed to the matter," Saini shared with TOI.
Later, towards the end of the August, officials from Jaipur discom came and took away his meter box. “I had asked them to check if there is any fault in the line, but instead of that they took away the box. The officials asked me to pay half of the billing amount but me and my family was not in the city for quite a time so how come the billing amount be even Rs 30,000,” Saini stated.
Despite being enrolled with the scheme, residents claimed of high bills and no rebate.
“The free unit scheme is a scam basically. While the government introduced certain units free, they have increased the fuel surcharge cost. Instead of lower figure, the billing amount has been on surge past few months especially,” said Garima Choudhary, a resident of the city.
Many of the consumers pointed that the electricity bill they received of last month is double of what they have paid earlier during peak of summers. “No one comes to take reading of the electricity meter,” a resident of the city raised the matter.