Who will correct the bill?
“Come in please… Help me please my son”. An educated old man called me while I am visiting a local divisional office of LESCO Wada. “What happened? Uncle”, I asked. He requested me to give him only fifteen minutes to calculate his electricity bill. I explain that the calculation slab is printed on each bill. But he forced me for calculation. I sat near him. Desperately he placed his bill in my hand, showing consumption of 350 units and payable amount of Rs. 2074 (approx). I pointed out the calculation. “OK my son but how?” he replied.
I am a retired person living in a house consisting of one 16×12 ft living room, 09×07 ft kitchen and 05×04 ft bathroom. There is one energy savor of 24–watts and a fan of 100–watts in my living room, one energy savor of the same wattage in my kitchen and one energy savor of 11–watts in my bathroom, I have neither TV nor any other electrical appliances. Oh… yes, there is an iron of 1000–watts too. My family consists upon only two persons, my wife and me.
Now come to the consumption. If the iron is used one hour in a week and all the energy savors and the fan of my house switched on for 24–hours, then… “24–hours…?” I interrupted him. Suppose my son, suppose. He continued… then the one day consumption would be:
Fan of the living room (100×24) = 2400 watts
Energy savor of the living room (24×24) = 0576 watts
Energy savor of the kitchen (24×24) = 0576 watts
Energy savor of the bathroom (24×11) = 0264 watts
Consumption of electricity in a day = 3816 watts
Monthly consumption would be:
Consumption of electricity in a month (3816×30) = 114480 watts
Iron (04–hours in a month) consumes (1000×4) = 004000 watts
Total consumption in a month = 118480 watts
Total units consumed in a month = 118.480 kWh
Now the bill calculation of 119 units according to the given slab would be:
100×3.290 = Rs. 329.00
19×4.960 = Rs. 094.240
Total cost of electricity = Rs. 423.24
NJS (approx) = Rs. 25.40
Electricity Duty = Rs. 6.349
GST = Rs. 68.737
Current bill payable = Rs. 523.726
This means my electricity bill payable within due date will Rs. 524 only. He said.
Note please, there is 08–10 hours daily load shading. I am a responsible citizen of Pakistan. I did not use electricity 24–hours a day. The energy savor of my living room switched on only for maximum of 06–hours daily, The energy savor of my kitchen switched on only for maximum of 02–hours daily, while The energy savor of my bathroom switched on only for maximum of 01–hour daily. Therefore Rs. 524 is still not my actual electricity bill. My bill will be far less than the said amount that is the quarter or one third. I have been complaining many times but nobody listen me. There are 231 excess units and excess amount of Rs. 1550. Who is responsible for this? How do I pay these bills? Allah knows better. The old man explained and wiped out his tears.
This is not a single case like this. There are many people facing such situations. Seeing the facts of excess billing, there is factual news of excess billing circulating in many newspapers. But the responsible personnel of Wapda always neglect it. They did not commit their fault but always openly explain that there is not any single case of excess billing. This clearly shows that meter readers are filling the meter reading lists sitting in their offices.
The Wapda authority should look into the matter seriously, take necessary action against such inefficient officials who are burden on the organization and solve the problems of such unsatisfied consumers.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the above words were extracted from external sources and do not reflect the opinion of the writer of this blog. Also the writer is not responsible for any facts and figures stated within this post.
