Patna, July 18: The decision of Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) to introduce electricity bill generation through hand-held billing machine in Patliputra division has proved costly for the consumers of the area.

Under the system, a meter reader from the electricity department goes to houses with a machine, jots down the reading and generates a bill in the presence of the owner with the help of the machine.

Of Pesu’s 10 divisions, it was first introduced in Gardanibagh on a trial basis in December, which has been quite successful. Patliputra division was the second to have been extended such a facility. Dak Bungalow division is the next on Pesu’s radar.

Though the introduction of billing through a hand-held billing machine may sound good initially, it has startled consumers who received the bills of two or three months in one go. This has led to their monthly budget going haywire.

The consumers, hitherto, used to get a monthly bill every month. For example, a consumer gets a bill for April in June as the reader used to come at the end of the month (say April) to jot down the reading and then he used to feed the data in the computer, which generates the bills and then the same is distributed.

However, with the introduction of hand-held billing machine system, the meter reader has taken the current readings. For example, if a consumer’s meter was jotted in March-end and the reader with the hand-held billing machine comes to one’s house at the end of June, then the reader would hand over the bills for three months (April, May and June). Several residents complained that this has adversely affected their budget.

Kamini Bala, a housewife and a resident of Vaishnavi Plaza in west Boring Canal Road, rued the electricity board’s sudden decision and said: “I have received a bill of Rs 1,600 for three months (April, May and June). It is a huge amount compared to what I used to get on a monthly basis. The board’s sudden decision, though it may prove fruitful in future, has completely left our household budget in a mess.”

Bala added: “The problem is not with the bills but with the quantum of electricity bills which I have received. I used to keep aside Rs 400 for electricity bill but Rs 1,600 is a huge amount and it has taken a heavy toll on my budget.”

Kesri Nagar resident Kundan Kumar, who faced similar problems, said: “I received a bill of Rs 5,700 for two months (May and June) which included the bill for April which I deposited with the board’s office. I had to get the bill corrected first but even then I had to pay Rs 3,900. Normally, I used to get the bill of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 every month.”

Kumar said the board should have given the liberty, at least to those consumers who received a heavy amount, to make payments in instalments.

Pesu (west) superintending engineer S.K. Srivastava told The Telegraph: “Such things (people getting bills for two or three months) are happening as we have introduced the bill generation through hand-billing machines for the first time in Patliputra division. People are facing problems but things will be streamlined from next month onwards as the consumer will a get timely monthly bill.”

Pointing out the benefit of the new system, Srivatava said: “Earlier, consumers used to get around three to four days to pay their electricity bills but now they will get 15 days time to make the payment.”