HYDERABAD:
Though the turnout was low, just a few hundred people, the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) spokesperson, Sadiq Kunbhar, claimed that “1,835 complaints were attended to and Rs1.6 million in arrears were recovered” at the open katchery on Saturday.
Nearly 1,000 chairs remained empty at the tent, where Hesco officials invited consumers to make complaints on a hot day with a humidity level of 85 per cent.
Complainants from the three subdivisions under Hesco’s Qasimabad division, which covers nearly 50,000 consumers, were expected to attend the event. Ten booths were set up: three for each subdivision and one for consumers from the rest of the 19 subdivisions in Hyderabad.
The spokesperson said the purpose was to offer an “open-window operation to customers”. The chief commercial officer and person in charge of the event, Deep Chand, said they wanted to “provide relief to consumers who often rush from one office to another to get their bills rectified”.
Chand admitted that complaints about over-reading and detection charges in utility bills are often not quickly tackled by officials. “This warranted an event like today,” he said.
An event like this would also help Hesco decide if they needed to hold similar ones in other subdivisions.
Chand justified the practice of over-billing and detection by blaming consumers for electricity theft. “What else can we do to recover the dues?” he asked, still hopeful that these issues would be resolved as soon as the automated meters and aerial bundle cables, to prevent theft, are installed. The project has been under way for two years.
The Qasimabad Shopkeepers Union president, Haji Rasool Bux Shaikh, felt that thousands of people would have turned up if Hesco had properly publicised the programme. “Over-billing and detection complaints are very common since every second consumer confronts them,” he said. “Even today’s hot weather would not have prevented consumers from turning up,” he argued.
Raheem Baksh who had come from Garhi Khata in hope of a concession on his Rs4,152 electricity bill returned disappointed. “Half of the bill includes detection and excessive reading but they said I still had to pay Rs3,000 to clear the dues.” Another consumer, Farooq Ahmed, living as a tenant at a two-room flat sat near the entrance gate in sheer dismay. His electricity bill has skyrocketed to Rs251,632 over the years but only an installment of Rs5,000 was made to his bill. “I was looking forward to a reduction of 40% to 50%,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.
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