Gaya, Nov. 6: Residents are faced with power bill problems since June this year.
Around 30 per cent of the 55,000 power consumers in Gaya urban area have not been getting power bills on a monthly basis since June. Even the reading of mechanical or electronic meters is not being done regularly.
Because of this, consumers are getting accumulated bills of more than a month at a time that, too, with faulty readings.
India Power Corporation Limited (IPCL), a Calcutta-based private company, has taken over the power supply, bill distribution and meter reading system in Gaya, Bodhgaya, Manpur, Khisersarai, Wazirganj, Atri and Fatehpur since June this year.
Shyamendra Prasad Sinha, a doctor running a nursing home on Gautam Buddha Road, said: “Neither the meter reading has been taken nor the power bills have been served since June. Because of this, the payment of bills has not been made since June.”
New Karimganj resident Shafi Ahmad said after visiting the office of IPCL several times, the meter reading was taken in October. “After June, we received the bill with excess amount. After much effort, the bill was corrected,” Ahmad said.
IPCL officials, on the other hand, said everything would be streamlined by December-end.
IPCL general manager (commercial) Ravi Shankar Shukla said: “We have initiated several measures that include registration of cell number of consumers through which bills will be sent on regular basis through SMS. So far, around 39,000 consumers have got their cell numbers registered. Not only bills will be sent through SMS but we would also remind the consumers two days before the payment due date.”
Assistant general manager (AGM) administration and public relations Rakesh Ranjan said: “A separate billing room has been opened at Gandhi Maidan from September where all bill-related problems are being sorted out. If there is complaint about meter reading, there is a separate team that goes with the customer, corrects the reading and also the bill amount. A team of 80 youths has been set up for meter reading, while another 40 are engaged in bill distribution.”
For rural areas, we have a team of 127 meter readers, who also distribute bills. We are also organising mass-level camps in Gaya urban as well as in the rural areas from November 7 to ensure on-the-spot disposal of power-related problems, including new connection, bill correction and others.
Ranjan said: “Since IPCL took over in June our priority was to improve power supply, which consumers are feeling too. Now, we are concentrating to streamline other sectors.”
GM (technical) Subodh Tyagi said they are getting 70MW power and to ensure its proper distribution, work is on to improve infrastructure too.