Shelter home writes to Maharashtra CM on steep hike in electricity bills

Navi Mumbai: Over 400 rescued homeless people at a shelter home in Panvel are facing a difficult situation due to high electricity bills, which has led to a crisis.

The founder of Social and Evangelical Association for Love (SEAL), pastor K M Philip, has now written to the state chief minister on behalf of the inmates, urging a solution to the issue. “Our monthly electricity bill is normally around Rs 60,000. However, since April, we were shocked to receive a bill of over Rs 1.9 lakh from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL), which further added an amount of Rs 2 lakh, without any clear justification. So, we were asked to pay a total of Rs 3.8 lakh, which is unaffordable and unfair,” said S Jainamma, administrator of SEAL.

The chief minister’s office (CMO) has quickly replied to SEAL and directed the state energy department to look into their steep power bill issue. Pastor Philip said, “In the past 26 years, SEAL has rescued and reunited more than 700 homeless people with their respective families. We are currently taking care of 400 inmates at the shelter. Hence, such an exorbitant electricity bill is beyond our capacity to pay.”

The pastor added that they faced a similar power billing issue a few years ago, but that was resolved. The pastor urged the state govt to resolve the present problem as well.

SEAL has also intimated MSEDCL that they also use solar panel energy in some parts of their campus, hence the power bill must reduce, instead of increasing.