No lapses in billing procedure adopted by discoms: APERC

Vijayawada: The AP State Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has made it clear that it has found no defects in the billing procedure by followed by Discoms in the state and the higher electricity bills are only due to the increased consumption of power.

The APERC also said that change of groups or slabs or delay in meter reading is not the reason for higher electricity bills.

The Commission announced the present tariff order after consultation with different section of people and they welcomed it also.

No tariff hike is made for any slab in any group except for consumption exceeding 500 units per month, the APERC said.

The Chairman APERC, Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy during a review meeting said on Thursday that the Commission gave its reply to some consumers who filed complaint with the APERC alleging that the Discoms were issued the electricity bills for two months based on total consumption, which caused substantial increase in billing amount.

The commission had carefully examined the electricity bills submitted by Kiran Kumar Reddy, a resident of Kurnool, who submitted electricity bills of three consumers to the commission.

After accurate calculation of the bills, the APERC said that the Discoms billed the consumption month wise (30 days) irrespective of the duration between previous and current month reading.

For the consumption to be billed in April 2020, the bill was calculated for consumption recorded up to March 31, at the rates of tariff order 2019-20 and for the consumption from April 1, 2020, the bill was calculated at the rates of tariff order for 2020-21 taking the units on pro-rata basis.

The units to be billed for May 20 are calculated as per the Tariff Order for FY20-21.

The APERC released the statement in view of the hue and cry raised by consumers across the state that the Discoms are charging extra bills and consumers are forced to pay extra amount.

Responding to it, the APERC said, "The billing procedure adopted is not questionable and found to be in order except applying the total consumption in a month for 30 days irrespective of the duration between meter reading days."

This is due to extraordinary situation prevailing due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission advised consumers to contact call center (1912) or visit Discoms websites to dispel their doubts.

They can also approach appropriate forums like Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum (CGRF) for the billing errors if any are not resolved locally by electricity revenue officer concerned.