Aged woman living in house with 2 bulbs in Koppal gets Rs 1 lakh power bill, Gescom rectifies issue

KOPPAL: Amidst the clamour for the Gruha Jyothi scheme, an aged woman who lives in a asbestos sheet house which has only two electric bulbs got a shock of her life when she was issued an electricity bill for a whopping Rs 1,03,315.

Girijamma, who is unlettered, was not even aware of the huge she had been given. Over the last six months, the Gescom staff have been only issuing bills to her and she had been finding it difficult to pay the dues. She had been provided an electricity connection under the Bhagya Jyothi free power scheme and was getting bills for consumption of 70-80 units.

Girijamma’s house and (righ) the new meter which was installed recently.

Girijamma lives with her son and six months ago, the Gescom installed a meter. She has been getting bills for Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 and the Gescom staff do not even go to her house to collect payments. Her son Veeranna said that earlier, his mother would get bills only for Rs 70-80, but after the meter was changed, she has been giving hefty bills. Despite pleas, the meter has not been changed, he said.

On Thursday, Gescom executive engineer (O&M) Rajesh visited Girijamma’s house and said her power bill has been revised. He added that Girijamma’s monthly power consumption is below 20 units and that she does not have to pay any bill since the connection was provided under the Bhagya Jyothi scheme. “This happened due to a dial-over issue in the meter in July 2021 and the IT team has been informed to rectify the same”, he noted.

Gescom executive engineer Rajesh (in checked shirt) visited Girijamma’s house on Thursday and rectified the problem.

The officials also said that the meter reader and bill collector should have brought the issue to the notice of his higher ups and added that action will be taken against them. He also appealed to people to contact the Gescom authorities in case of such abnormal power bills.

Meanwhile, Girijamma is happy that her problem has been sorted out and thanked the media and the Gescom offcials.