Will Installing “Prepaid Digital Meter” Lead To Increase Electricity Bills?
Guwahati: The state government has come under fire from the All-India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC) over the allegedly excessive electricity bills and the installation of prepayment metres.
The government is attempting to take the easy way out and downplay the gravity of the situation, according to Gauravv Somani, president of the Assam state AIPC unit and state Congress secretary, only by providing toll-free lines and Whatsapp numbers to customers of prepaid metres.
Somani said, “Why is the government not being able to address the drastic increase in electricity bills after the installation of digital prepaid meters? The electricity bills with earlier installed smart meters and recently installed digital meters have resulted in the increase of 25% to 30% in monthly electricity bill and this is only possible if there is a difference between the earlier static electronic meter and new digital smart prepaid meters regarding the measurement of electricity and probably APDCL is not also following the same BIS for electrical Metrology in installing the new prepaid meters.”
He also added, “It was either the earlier smart meters with some default resulting in low electricity bill generation or there is a fault in the newly digital prepaid meters showing escalated electricity bills” thus, Government has to clarify its stand on this, Somani stressed.
The profits of the APDCL in the year 2021-22 was more than rupees 300 crores and estimated profit for 2022-23 is around 500 crore rupees as informed, claimed Somani in a statement.
According to AIPC, APDCL shall make every effort to provide services at the lowest possible cost rather than acting as a for-profit corporate enterprise.
“In the name of digital prepaid meters and electricity bills, APDCL have started looting money from general public. People are now clueless on the amount of electricity consumed and its bill structure. Since now APDCL is a profit-making enterprise, Government should provide electricity to the people at a subsidized rate or should provide 200 units of free electricity to every household,” Somani urged in the statement.
Also, the AIPC has requested that the government investigate the veracity of the digital prepaid metres that have been installed because the rising cost of power has created concerns and put additional strain on Assamese citizens’ finances.
