Distraught consumer: Woman commits suicide after seeing electricity bill

BAHAWALPUR:

A woman committed suicide on seeing her electricity bill on Thursday.

Arif Channa, her landlord, said Salma, a 37-year-old widow had rented a portion of his house and was living there with her two children in Tahir Colony. He said he had received a electricity bill of Rs29,300 on Thursday morning. He said when he took the bill to Salma, she became distraught.  He said she had swallowed poisonous tablets used to preserve wheat and fainted. He said he took her to Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital. Channa said doctors tried to pump her stomach but she died. Mepco XEN Shahzad Habib Gill told newsmen that the bill for Channa’s was according to the meter reading. “There have been many complaints of overbilling this month,” he said. He said the SDOs had been instructed to check meter readings against and correct the bills.  He said those involved in overbilling would be investigation and penalised.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2014.