Smart meter row: Virar activist’s dharna draws hundreds of excess billing complaints

A Virarbased activistrsquos battle against smart meters is ongoing as he sits on a lsquodharnarsquo outside a Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd MSEDCL subdivisional office in Virar WestThe activist Suhail Khan told midday that while being on what has now been a ldquomonthlong dharnardquo which started with his own case he received over 700 grievances from citizens saying they were victims of ldquoexcess billingrdquo and officials at the MSEDCL were unable to helppopcorn number3500 descNo of grievances received classDefaultAn MSEDCL spokesperson said such smart meterspecific complaints had been specially addressed by officials for thousands of consumers over the last two months and regular grievance redressal continues to function at all the subdivisional offices including the Virar oneThe demandsgtgt Remove smart meters installed without consent and reinstall conventional metersgtgt Immediate correction of excessive billsgtgt 30 electricity bill reductiongtgt New transformers of sufficient capacitygtgt Withhold recovery until a free meter test is conductedgtgt Setting up of a permanent grievance redressal cellgtgt Stop forced smart meter implementationgtgt Redressal of grievances within 15 daysgtgt Provide free standard check metersgtgt Organise lsquoJanAdalatrsquo for direct bill amendmentgtgt Immediate restoration of disconnected electricity and fan supply at the protest sitelsquoUnrealistic power billsrsquoldquoMy understanding of the issue is firsthand after a smart meter was installed our bill jumped from the usual approximate Rs 4000 to around Rs 12000 then it dropped to Rs 9000 and later to Rs 6000 However it didnrsquot go back to what we used to pay earlier Lakhs of VasaiVirar residents have simply adjusted because of time and effort constraints There are many cases where the family wasnrsquot even at their homes or experienced a disrupted electricity connection due to rains yet they received unrealistic billsrdquo stated KhanOfficial SpeakldquoIn the VasaiVirarPalghar jurisdiction around 3500 grievances were received during our special invites in July We had addressed all of them with rectifications made to bill amounts in many genuine cases To clear consumersrsquo doubts regarding the meterrsquos accuracy we conducted groundlevel consultations We installed the older digital meter parallel to the newer smart meter for the critiques to observe Consumers who are still facing any issues can reach out to any of our subdivisional offices where officials remain on standby to help themrdquo stated an MSEDCL spokespersonlsquoSmart meters compulsoryrsquoSpeaking to midday in July Minister of State for Energy Meghna Bordikar had said that it is not true that smart meters are not compulsory ldquoWe have to convert all digital or manual meters to smart metersrdquo she had said Responding to a question on consumersrsquo inflated bill allegations Bordikar had clarified that billing follows rules laid down by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission MERC which the government cannot meddle withActivist SpeakldquoI am sitting here to represent the citizens who are affected The vest with holes I have worn is deliberate to convey a message to the government and authorities that their move has left citizens in this looted situationrdquo said KhanldquoI have noted the mobile number address consumer number and concerns of all 700 of them but every time officials speak with us they refuse to accept that the issue is with the smart meters and just keep repeating their advantagesrdquo he added