Overdue bill amount now at Rs 750 crore, says Adani Mumbai Electricity

Firm says most complaints about abnormally high bills have been resolved; number of consumers with bill payments overdue for over 30 days is 570,000

Adani Electricity Mumbai(AEML) faced the maximum ire as consumers complained over revised electricity bills received post lockdown. The company said on Monday that while most complaints have been resolved, the overdue bill amount remains significant at Rs 750 crore.

In a media call, Kandarp Patel, chief executive officer at AEML, said the amount overdue as bills for more than 30 days at the start of April was around Rs 225 crore. He said this increased significantly to Rs 830 crore ever since. “We are now seeing a reduction in the overdue amount, which currently stands at around Rs 750 crore,” the executive added.

The number of consumers with bill payments overdue for more than 30 days is 570,000.

As the overdue amount has more than doubled from the regular levels, the company’s management said AEML is using working capital facilities to meet day-to-day operation requirements. Patel remains confident the overdue amount will soon regularise.

Consumers in Mumbai and across other cities were caught off-guard due to revised power bills sent in June. As discoms were unable to read meters during the lockdown period, consumers received estimated bills in April and May.

With the unlock process initiated, meter reading resumed and discoms started sending revised bills with adjustments for higher consumption in April and May. Several consumers and celebrities have since complained of power bills two to three times higher than the usual average. Discoms have attributed the higher bill to more hours spent at home and summer consumption.

AEML, according to company executives, received around 48,000 complaints. The company management added most of these have now been resolved. “Hardly 2200 complaints are pending where we are to check the consumption pattern and verify bills and some intervention was needed,” said Patel from AEML. Amongst other measures, the company has adopted both remote and consumer-centre based video calling to address concerns, while practicing social distancing. AEML caters to over 2.9 million customers in the city.