After years of paying electricity bills of R50-80 for his spartan tribal home in Aarey Colony, Chandu Jadhav, 66, received a rude shock this week: Adani slapped him with a bill for R1,250, which is nearly 1,500% higher than any of his past bills. Now the physically challenged senior citizen has no idea how to manage his monthly expenses, as Adani's bill will gobble up more than a fifth of his modest monthly pension.

Chandu is among some 30 lakh suburban consumers who have experienced an abnormal hike in power bills ever since their power supplier changed from Reliance Energy to Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML) in September. The tribal resident of Vanicha Pada in Aarey Colony, Goregaon East, is a retired Class IV employee of the state water supply department, and earns a monthly pension of R5,500. This is the only source of income on which he supports his wife and three children. But since the family received the electricity bill from Adani on December 3, they have been worried about how they will manage their expenses for the month.